PREPARATORY OPERATIONS IN FORMING A GARDEN. 
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gets tall, thick at top, and thin and open next 
the ground; no other remedy for this is 
needed than constant trimming and cutting 
down. Next the ground the hedge should be 
bushy and compact in itself, but no weeds 
should be suffered to grow here; their pre- 
sence is apt to produce an appearance of false 
security, for they smother, and in time kill 
the lower branches of the hedge, and this 
is not perceived during the period of their 
growth, but becomes obvious in the form of 
gaps and openings, when they are perished. 
Sheep and dogs, but pigs especially, force 
their way through these thin and open por- 
tions next the ground, and thus find entrance, 
to the serious damage of the crops. Larger 
cattle seldom force entrance through a thorn 
fence, as it is generally thick enough above ; 
it is the parts near the ground where the risk 
chiefly lies, and this risk should therefore be 
most carefully provided against. Tall hedges 
are seldom necessary or desirable, their only 
use being to afford shelter if the situation 
is much exposed. For the reasons already 
stated in reference to weeds, the practice of 
stopping the gaps in the lower parts of hedges 
by means of dead branches of the thorn, is 
not a good one, for the presence of these 
branches prevents the living parts of the 
hedge from so growing as to effect a perma- 
nent stoppage. The weak parts should in 
such cases be protected, young plants put in 
and headed down, and the growth of the older 
parts encouraged in the direction required. 
The best mode of forming a thorn hedge is 
to plant the young quicksets on the natural 
level of ground previously prepared by trench- 
ing, and if necessary by manuring. Three or 
four years old strong plants are to be pre- 
ferred, and a double row of plants should be 
put in at six inches asunder, the plants in one 
row standing opposite the blank space be- 
tween the plants in the other. The plants 
should be headed down, so that when in the 
ground they may stand two inches above the 
surface ; and in planting each line of plants 
a perpendicular trench should be opened with 
the spade, and the roots of each spread out as 
much as the space will admit ,• the sets should 
not be planted deeper than they were pre- 
viously. At a foot from the plants outside, a 
ditch should be formed if the soil is wet, but 
not otherwise. The ditch should be very 
narrow at bottom, to prevent cattle walking in 
it and browsing on the plants ; and some thorn 
branches may be laid along the bottom for the 
same purpose. The earth from the ditch 
may form a mound on the other side of the 
hedge, not nearer than a foot from the plants, 
the side next the plants being made up steep 
a foot or more high, and the other side sloping 
gradually into the general level of the gar- 
den, this sloping surface being available for 
cropping. A slight mound is advantageous, 
as it facilitates the thickening of the lower 
part of the hedge ; but a ditch is rather 
injurious than otherwise if the situation and 
soil are naturally dry. No weeds must be 
allowed, but three years growth should be 
permitted without trimming, that the plants 
may gain strength; they should then be cut 
back to about a foot in height, and the sides 
should be trimmed up. A hedge should always 
take the form of a compressed letter A- The 
trimming should be performed with a light 
hedging-bill, in preference to hedge-sheare. 
A weak hedge should be pruned in October 
or February, that the buds may push vigor- 
ously in spring ; a vigorous hedge should be 
pruned late in spring, that its growth may be 
moderated. Five feet high, and two feet 
and-a-half wide at the bottom, are the extreme 
dimensions necessary in any ordinary garden 
fence ; four feet will often be height enough. 
A division fence may be quickly formed by 
inserting in the ground about a foot of the 
lower end of straight rods five or six feet long, 
and two or three inches in diameter, of the 
goat-willow, or black sallow, the species the 
flowers of which are gathered as " palms " at 
Easter. These rods are to be crossed dia- 
gonally at about eighteen inches apart, or 
rather closer, and will form a pretty good 
fence at once if tied firmly together along the 
top, and at intervals besides ; they will throw 
out branches which are to be kept trimmed 
in rather close by the hedge-bill, or entwined 
among the rods. 
Draining. — Next in order after fencing 
comes the thorough drainage of the ground ; 
and this is the operation which is the founda- 
tion of all success in garden culture. Without 
this all other appliances are of no avail ; that 
is, if the soil naturally contains excess of 
moisture. Almost every garden would derive 
benefit from a proper system of drainage, 
those only being excepted, in which the sub- 
soil, or under layer of earth, is of a gravelly 
nature, and uninfluenced by adjacent springs, 
— or in other words, naturally drained. 
The basis of all successful drainage is a 
proper fall or outlet, that the water may pass 
away when it is collected by the drains. If 
there is not this fall it is of little use to make 
drains to collect the water, for while it is 
stagnant in the drains, it is no better than 
being stagnant without them. An outlet 
should therefore be first sought. This pro- 
vided or secured, the next thing is to form 
the drains. Now as to the depth at which 
drains should be laid, there are opposing 
opinions, some contending for thirty inches, 
and some sixty inches and more. If the top 
thirty inches of soil can be cleared of super- 
