206 
On Fences. 
planted fence. It is necessary that the ditch should be made 
narrow at bottom, as it prevents cattle from walking in it, otherwise 
they are very apt to get into it for the purpose of cropping the 
young shoots. Hawthorn spray laid into the ditch will generally 
deter cattle from getting into it, and this precaution, as well as the 
narrow bottom, should be adopted. The plan pursued throughout 
the most parts of England, of forming a ridge or bank of soil, and 
planting the quicks on the top of it, is so thoroughly absurd, that 
one wonders how men conversant with the usual operation of the 
elements should have ever thought of it. No hedge can prosper 
if planted in this way. The rain comes, but it washes down the 
sides of the bank only ; the sim shines upon it, but as there is no 
moisture in the ridge, his influences tend rather in this case to 
hinder vegetation : frosts loosen the surface, and the soil moulders 
away from the roots, which in the course of time are exposed for 
the searching winds to operate upon. Hence it is that throughout 
England there is not a single good close fence founded on this 
plan; the result being that, even after ten or sometimes fifteen 
years' nursing, the hedge has to be patched and mended with dead 
branches. In fact, if such a fence were to be kept clean, as all 
fences should be, this necessary operation would in the course of a 
year or two cause it to fall to pieces; for the roots of rank herb- 
age, brambles, &c., which surround it, bind the bank together, so 
that the weeds and rubbish may be truly said to form apart of the 
system. Added to this is the great width of the bank, raised, too, 
by impoverishing the soil on each side, which are in themselves 
sufficient reasons for rejecting this injurious though common mode 
of preparing sites for fences. The object of every planter and 
improver is to form at once an immediate and durable fence, and 
for this purpose there ought to be a more liberal provision made 
for the necessary expenses at its first formation. That there will 
be an ultimate saving, even in the space of five or six year?, no one 
can doubt who studies the table (No. 20). Under all ordinary 
circumstances, where the soil is not too damp, my plan has been, 
after trenching and manuring (13), to plant on the plane surface of 
the ground, in which case the roots have the full benefit of the soil 
on both sides, the full benefit of the rains from heaven, and, instead 
of being baked by his rays, the full benefit of the sun also. In 
four years such a fence is strong and impenetrable, req\iiring no 
protection, and, if assisted by manuring its weak parts during its 
progress to maturity, presenting a beautiful, regular, and complete 
appearance. 
15. Time for planting. — The best season for planting is imme- 
diately after the fall of the leaf in autumn ; for at that juncture a 
tree is at complete rest, and has not commenced to prepare the 
