On Fences. 
221 
perfectly ripe in November and December, when they should be 
gathered, and after being mixed with sand, laid in a pit in the 
open ground till the December following ; that is, for twelve 
months, when they should be sown during open weather. When in 
the pit, they should be turned over frequently so as to hasten the 
rotting of the pulp in which they are encased. The soil in which 
ihey are sown should be free sandy loam, shaded if possible from 
the south, so that the sun may not dry up the beds. For the sake 
of weeding them conveniently, those beds should not be more than 
four feet or four feet and a half wide, the soil should be made soft 
and tine by raking it, and the depth to which they should be co- 
vered is from a quarter to half an inch. I do not approve of sowing 
the seeds immediately after their being gathered, because, 1st, there 
is the loss for one year of the soil which they occupy ; 2nd, there is 
the cleaning of the space for a like period ; and 3rdly, the soil 
lying undisturbed so long gets so firm as to materially hinder the 
growth of the tender plants when they do appear. The young 
plants will begin to spring in May and June, and should be kept 
perfectly free from weeds. At the end of the second season, during 
the months of November and December, the plants should be re- 
moved into lines about a foot distant from each other, and the 
plants placed about four inches apart. Here they should remain 
for two years, when they should be again removed into lines eighteen 
inches apart, and the plants placed about six inches from each other: 
in those lines they are to remain for a similar period. The plants 
will now be six years old, and if they have grown freely, they will 
be fit in another year to take their place as fence plants. With 
this view, therefore, they should be again removed into lines twenty 
inches or two feet apart, and placed in those lines about a foot 
distant from each other, here to remain, as stated, for one year. 
When lifted, such plants will have large bushy roots, and nothing 
but the grossest carelessness will prevent them from forming in a 
short time a beautiful and durable fence. 
The Beech — Fagus sylvatica. 
36. This tree grows rapidly on all prepared soils, and forms a 
very beautiful fence. In rich soil, it retains a great proportion of 
its leaves in a withered state during winter; and is on this account 
excellent for nursing early grass on such lands as are set apart 
for feeding and fattening different kinds of live stock. Its only 
defect is a want of that rigidity so striking in the whitethorn and 
crab ; hence it cannot in all cases be safely trusted where cattle are 
grazing, unless it be protected by a ditch next to the field where 
they usually are. This circumstance, however, is capable of 
being turned to good account in soils naturally too damp for it, 
where a ditch would be required as well for the draining of the 
