BOTANICAL SOCIETY OF LONDON. 
77 
“ Natural living Fence ” an appellation which it well deserved. 
It consists simply of planting for the purpose trees or shoots 
of the same species, or species of the same genus, or genera 
of the same natural family, and causing them to unite by 
means of the process of “ grafting by approach or inarch- 
ing a process well understood by gardeners and Horticul- 
turists. The fact having been briefly stated, it is necessary 
in the next place, to enter more fully into an explanation of 
the plan to be adopted. In the first instance it is requisite 
to cultivate a portion of land, for the purpose of rearing the 
shoots intended for forming the fence. Those which I had 
the opportunity of observing (on the estate of Sir Thomas 
Neave’s, Dagnam Park, Essex, constructed by his gardener 
and planter Mr. Breese), were formed of ash, but of course 
any other tree would similarly unite and answer the end 
required. The faster the tree grows, and produces new wood, 
the stronger and better the fence necessarily becomes. The 
shoots or small trees are run up, (as termed by gardeners) 
and kept trimmed so as to produce stems as straight as 
possible. These are trained to the height required, depend- 
ing upon the intended height of the fence. As soon as they 
have acquired sufficient age they are carefully transplanted, 
a trench of two feet in width being previously made in the 
line of the intended fence, it being found necessary to sur- 
round the roots with earth of a richer nature than that usu- 
ally met with, where fences are to be placed, such as the 
outskirts of woods, plantations, parks, &c. The trench 
having been made and prepared, the stems are then carefully 
removed; one set being planted at the required distance, 
a foot for instance from each other, these we may suppose to 
slope to the north ; the other set, for example, are planted 
sloping towards the south, at the same distance from each 
other, so that when the shoots proceed from the ground, they 
are in contact by their internal part. 
The several stems having been thus arranged, the next and 
most important step is that of causing them to unite ; this of 
course is requisite in order to produce strength, and is ac- 
complished by the process of grafting by approach, or what 
is the same thing, that of inarching. For this purpose it is 
necessary to remove a small plate of bark at the proper 
season, on each stem where their inner portions are in con- 
tact ; this having been carefully performed, approximate the 
two stems, so that the denuded portions of each shall exactly 
meet ; tie the stems together at these places, and keep them 
