Fencing. 



35. Now, in the first place, when tlie outsides of the 

 ground are marked out, the ground where the banlv is to 

 he ought to be trenched, agreeably to the foregoing direc- 

 tions, keeping the old top soil still at top. Then the top 

 soil of the ditch, five or six feet wide, ought to be laid upon 

 this trenched ground, making a bank three feet wide at 

 top, and level there, in order that it may hold some water 

 when sunk a little in the middle. This will make a bank 

 full two feet above the level of the ground, because the 

 trenching luider it will have raised the earth six inches at 

 least. Then, in order to have the protection of a ditch, all 

 the bottom of the ditch, to the depth of two and a half feet 

 below the top soil, ought to be thrown out on the other side. 

 This ditch itself would be nearly an effectual fence against 

 cattle, sheep and pigs ; at least, it would be such for a year 

 or two, until a great mouldering down took place. 



36. The bank being formed in this way, quickset (other- 

 wise called whitethorn) plants, four or five years old, and 

 removed previous to their last year's growth, each plant 

 being as big at bottom as a man's (a labouring man's) fore- 

 finger, should be planted, any time between September and 

 April ; and cut down, at the time of planting, to within a 

 foot of the ground. The manner of planting and of pruning 

 the roots will be seen under another head. The plants 

 should stand 15 inches asunder ; they should be in one row, 

 and that row about a foot from the outside edge of the top 

 of the bank. The ground on the top of the bank should 

 slope a little, from the outside edges to the stems of the 

 plants, in order for them to receive the rains at their roots. 

 Through the summer, the ground on each side of them 

 should be hoed, pretty deeply, and kept quite clean. These 

 plants would, the first year, make long and strong shoots. 

 The next spring cut them down to within an inch of the 



