250 
Farming of Oxfordshire. 
Cutting and laying fences is neatly and substantially per- 
formed. All the large wood of the old hedge is cut out, and 
the young sprays only left, which aie cleverly braided on live 
stakes, left from 18 inches to 4 feet high, according to the 
strength required. By laying all the rough ends of the bushes 
on the land side, cattle cannot browse on the young shoots, so no 
dead fence is required, while the other side is protected by the 
ditch. The young wood is all laid in one direction, at an angle 
of 45°, and is secured from flying up by briars twisted on the 
top of the stakes. A better way for fencing against horned 
cattle is to braid the live-wood crosswise like a net which re- 
quires no " withs" or binding at the top. 
The praise which is awarded to hedging cannot be extended 
to ditching. From one end of the county to the other there is 
sad neglect of the state of the ditches. On light arable land 
ditches are of no service and are best ploughed in, but on all 
stiff soils, and around all meadows and pastures ditches are in- 
dispensable. The ditches which do exist have been in most 
instances defectively made at first in respect of depth and width, 
and when hedges are cut the utmost that is done is merely to 
trim the sides and clear the bottom. For the next eight or ten 
years, till the fence wants laying, they are seldom or never 
touched. In some game-preserving districts of Norfolk, whei'e 
tenants are too neat, clauses in the leases are inserted to the effect 
that ditches shall not be trimmed more than once in four years : 
in this county, where every agreement directs that ditches and 
water-courses are to be well cleansed every year, the operation is 
performed about once in eight years. Half of the ditches now 
are choked with rubbish, or trodden nearly full by cattle. The 
water that may trickle into them has no chance of escape, and of 
course saturates and poisons the surrounding land. There is no 
doubt that at little cost an immense amount of benefit would 
accrue to stiff meadow lands, by proper atttention paid to ditches. 
In the first place they 'should be cut much deeper, wider at the 
top, and sloping, so as to form a narrow channel at the bottom. 
If scoured out every year, and proper means taken to convey 
the surface-water from the furroM S rapidly into the ditch, much 
land, now excessively wet, would be made comparatively dry 
icithout the exjiense of under-draining . 
Few things conduce so much to the neatness of a farm as 
good gates. In this particular the county of Oxford is generally- 
deficient. Larch, ash, or willow poles split, or sawn down the 
middle, serve as rails. The head and heel, called here the 
" liar," are usually made of elm. Of course little strength is 
required to protect arable fields, but gates thus constructed are 
very unsightly and soon fall to pieces. The usual fastening toa 
