6 
TOUR IN ENGLAND.—-NO. XII. 
This seems to me 'practical reasoning , for the 
butchers all say, that if the Leicesters had more 
lean and less fat, they would suit their customers 
much better. I allow that the Leicester men, and 
those who crossed from them, have won more 
prizes than the Cotswolds, because symmetry is 
always observed in every male animal, and the 
latter have not had time to arrive at perfection. 
I believe it is candidly admitted that the Cots¬ 
wolds are decidedly the most profitable sheep in 
the world, and will soon be able to carry away the 
first premiums. 
We can make the same observations upon the 
keep of the above stock, as we did on that of Col. 
Sherwood and Mr. Prentice. We found the 
cows living upon rye-straw, with a few turneps, 
and the sheep the same. We believe, as a matter 
of health, and for the purpose of giving a greater 
variety to the food, the young animals had a little 
oil cake. This is highly approved of in England 
for the young of all kinds of domestic stock, as it 
keeps the bowels open, and generally prevents 
scouring or costiveness; it also gives a good tone 
to the stomach, and seems to make them relish 
all their other food much better; and our own ex¬ 
perience of several years of feeding oil-cake in 
small quantities, confirms all that has been told 
us of its good qualities. 
&our fn EnglanS. No. 12. 
English Fences. —These are of various kinds, 
the hedge, however, predominating; and no one 
feature adds more to the rural beauty of the coun¬ 
try than these living walls of verdure,—pic¬ 
turesquely dividing it in a thousand devious ways, 
and making many a spot, that would otherwise 
appear desolate and bare, look charmingly pretty 
and inviting. Quite a variety of shrubs and trees 
are made use of here for hedges, but those we 
most admired were the holly. This is somewhat 
different from the American holly,—its leaves 
being variegated with yellow spots, and it has 
small thorns, like our Ilex opaca , protruding from 
their edges. It is an evergreen, and adds greatly 
to the beauty of the winter landscape. In front of 
the house, and around the ornamental grounds 
and gardens, portions of the hedges are trained in 
what is termed topiary work. This represents 
any animal, a deer for example, in a recumbent 
position, with head and antlers erect; a peacock, 
with its tail wide spread; a castle, a summer¬ 
house, or some other fantastic piece, which the 
very nice often take upon themselves to laugh 
at as stiff and studied; yet to us these things 
have a great charm, for they seem to harmonize 
with the scenery and the antiquated building ■ 
around; and we have often paused to contem¬ 
plate this fancy work of the rustic hedge-clipper, 
with a vague, indescribable satisfaction, thinking, 
perhaps, the same hand that guided the hedge- 
shears, might, under more favorable circum¬ 
stances, have won renown with the pencil or 
chisel; for it is our humor to clothe all things as 
often as possible in the beautiful, and imagine the 
illustrious. In this way, wandering along the 
world, we have cheated many a dull hour of its 
tediousness and melancholy. 
Next to the holly we admired the gorse or furze, 
a sharp, prickly shrub, growing to a height of 
five feet or more, and bearing a yellow blossom. 
But the most common hedge here is the haw¬ 
thorn ; and this upon the whole is perhaps the 
best. We do not think its foliage equal to that 
of the maple and other varieties of the thorns of 
our own country; its blossom, however, is quite 
as pretty, and much like it, and comes out about 
the same period of the year as in New-York. Its 
growth is not near so rapid as our own hawthorns, 
nor is it as suitable for our climate, and when cul¬ 
tivated here as a hedge, has generally proved a 
failure. 
The general method of growing hedges in Eng¬ 
land, is to dig a ditch along the line where it is to 
be planted, four to five feet wide, and two to three 
feet deep, and plant the thorn upon the embank* 
ment made by this excavation. This method has 
a double advantage; for it makes a good ditch, 
which is highly necessary to assist in carrying off 
the surface water in this moist climate, and the 
earth thrown up from it, forms an excellent bed, 
with a double depth of soil on which to plant the 
thorn; and the fence thus grows more rapidly and 
stronger than it otherwise would. The ditch and 
embankment also add to the strength and security 
of the fence, making it more difficult to get over. 
Before setting out a hedge, the land along the 
line is generally put under cultivation the previous 
year, so as to get it mellow and in good tilth. A 
potato crop is the best preparation, and the quicks 
are usually of the second year’s growth, and taken 
up from a bed where they are cultivated for this 
purpose. They are planted about six inches apart, 
in double rows along the line, the quicks of the 
second row being placed opposite the centre ot 
the space occupied by the first. Sometimes, when 
a very strong fence is required, three rows are 
planted; but two are generally sufficient, and 
we have seen quite good hedges formed from a 
single row alone. 
An important pout in the manesremem ^ 
