22 
"I only perceived a hedge of privet in one single place. 
The enclosures were not made like ours, for the people here 
take posts from four to six feet in height, and make two or 
three holes into them, so that there was a distance of two 
feet and above between them. Such a post does the same 
service as two and sometimes three posts are scarce sufficient. 
The posts were fastened in the ground, at two or three 
fathoms distance from each other, and the holes in them 
kept up the planks, which were nine inches and sometimes a 
foot broad, and lay above each other, from one post to the 
next. Such an enclosure therefore looked, at a distance, like 
the hurdles in which we enclose the sheep at night in Sweden. 
They were really no closer than hurdles, being only destined 
to keep out the greater animals, such as cows and horses. The 
hogs are kept near the farm houses, everywhere about Phila- 
delphia, and therefore this enclosure does not need to be 
made closer on their account. Chestnut trees were commonly 
made use of for this purpose, because this wood keeps longest 
against putrefaction, and an enclosure made of it can stand 
for thirty years together. But where no chestnut wood was 
to be got, the white and likewise the black oaks were taken 
for that purpose. Of all kinds of wood, that of the red 
cedar holds out the longest. The greatest quantity of it is 
bought up here, for near Philadelphia it is not plentiful 
enough, to be made use of for enclosures, however, there are 
many enclosures near the town made of this wood. The best 
wood for fuel in everybody's opinion is the hiccory, or a 
species of walnut, but it heats well, but is not good for 
enclosures, since it cannot well withstand putrefaction when 
it is in the open air. The white and black oaks are next in 
goodness for fuel. 
"The woods with which Philadelphia is surrounded 
would lead one to conclude that fuel must be cheap there. 
But it is far from being so, because the great and high forest 
near the towns is the property of some people of quality and 
fortune, who do not regard the money which they could 
make of them. They do not sell so much as they require for 
