plants; which will be best done by previously rearing them in a nursery of your own, as near the field to be inclofed as you can conveniently have it; for as they are very bulky, the carriage would be troublesome if they were brought from any confiderable distance. The best kinds of willow for this use, are fuch as make the longest and ftrongest fhoots, and are not of a brittle nature. All the large kinds of hoop willows may be employed for this ufe; but there is another kind with ftronger and more taper shoots, covered with a dark green bark when young, which, upon the older fhoots, becomes of an afh grey, of a firm texture, and a little rough to the touch. The leaves are not fo long, and a great deal broader than thofe of the common hoop willow, pretty thick, and of a dark green colour. What name this fpecies is ufually known by, I cannot tell; but as it becomes very quickly of a large fize at the root, and is ftrong and firm, it ought to be made choice of for this purpose, in preference to all other kinds that I have feen. The fhoots ought to be of two or three years growth before they can be properly used, and fhould never be lefs than eight or nine feet in length. These ought to be cut over close by the ground immediately before planting, and carried to the field at their whole length. The planter having stretched a line, along the middle of the ridge which was prepared for their reception, begins at one end thereof, thrufting a row of these plants firmly into the ground, close by the fide of the line, at the distance of 18 or 20 inches from one another; making them all flant a little to one fide in a direction parallel to the line. This being finished, let him begin at the oppofite end of the line, and plant another row in the intervals between the plants of the former row; making these incline as much as the others, but in a direction exactly contrary; and then, plaiting these basket ways, work them into lozenges like a net, fastening the tops by plaiting the small twigs with one another, which with ve ry little trouble may be made to bind together very firmly. The whole, when finished, affumes a very beautiful net-like appearance, and is even at firft a tolerable good defence: and, as these plants immediately take root and quickly increase in fize, it becomes, after a few years, a very ftrong fence, which nothing can penetrate. This kind of hedge I myself have employed; and find that a man may plant and twift properly about a hundred yards in a day, if the plants be laid down to his hand: and, in a fituation fuch as I have defcribed, I know no kind of fence which could be reared at fuch a small expenfe, fo quickly become a defence, and continue to long in good order. But it will be greatly improved by putting a plant of eglan tine between each two plants of willow, which will quickly climb up and be supported by them; and, by its numerous prickles would effectually preferve the defencelefs willow from being browfed upon by cattle. As it will be neceffary to keep the narrow ridge, upon which the hedge is planted, in culture for one year at leaft, that the plants of eglantine may not be choked by weeds, and that the roots of the willow may be allowed to spread with the greater ease in the tender mould produced by this means, it will be proper to ftir

the earth once or twice by a gentle horse-hoe in the beginning of fummer; and in the month of June, it may be fowed with turnips, or planted with coleworts, which will abundantly repay the expenfe of the fallow." Dr Anderson also gives the following useful directions for planting hedges in fituations very much expofed to the weather, and recovering them when on the point of decaying. "Thofe who live in an open uncultivated country, have many difficulties to encounter, which others who inhabit more warm and sheltered regions never experience; and, among these difficulties, may be reckoned that of hardly getting hedges to grow with facility. For, where a young hedge is much expofed to violent and continued gufts of wind, no art will ever make it rise with fo much freedom, or grow with fuch luxuriance, as it would do in a more fheltered fituation and favourable exposure. But although it is impoffible to rear hedges in this fituation to so much perfection as in the others, yet they may be reared even there, with a little attention and pains, fo as to become very fine fences. It is advisable, in all fuch cafes, to plant the hedges on the face of a bank; but it becomes abfolutely necessary in fuch an expofed fituation as that I have now defcribed: for the bank, by breaking the force of the wind, fcreens the young hedge from the violence of the blast, and allows it to advance, for fome time at firft, with much greater luxuriance than it otherwife could have done. But as it may be expected foon to grow as high as the bank, it behoves the provident husbandman to prepare for that event, and guard with a wife forecast against the inconvenience that may be expected to arise from that circumftance. With this view, it will be proper for him, instead of making a fingle ditch, and planting one hedge, to raise a pretty high bank, with a ditch on each fide of it, and a hedge on each face of the bank; in which fitua tion, the bank will equally fhelter each of the two hedges while they are lower than it; and, when they at length become as high as the bank, the one hedge will in a manner afford fhelter to the other, fo as to enable them to advance with much greater luxuriance than either of them would have done fingly. To effectuate this ftill more perfectly, let a row of fervice trees be planted along the top of the bank, at the diftance of 18 inches from each other, with a plant of eglantine between each two fervices. This plant will advance, in fome degree, even in this expofed fituation; and by its numerous fhoots, covered with large leaves, will effectually fcreen the hedge on each fide of it, which, in its turn, will receive fome support and fhelter from them; fo that they will be enabled to advance all together, and form, in time, a close, ftrong, and beautiful fence. The fervice is a tree but little known in Scotland; although it is one of thofe that ought perhaps to be often cultivated there, in preference to any other tree whatever, as it is more hardy, and in any exposed fituation affords more fhelter to other plants, than almoft any other tree I know: for it fends out a great many ftrong branches from the under part of the ftem, which, in time, affume an upright direction, and continue to advance with vigour, and carry many leaves to the very bottom, almoft as long as the

tree

tree exifts; fo that if it is not pruned, it rifes a large close bush, till it attains the height of a foreft tree. It is of the fame genus with the rawn-tree, and has a great refemblance to it both in flower and fruit; its branches are more waving and pliant; its leaves undivided, broad and round, fome what refembling the elm, but white and meally on the under fide. It deferves to be better known than it is at present. But if, from the poornefs of the foil in which your hedge is planted, or from any other caufe, it fhould fo happen, that, after a few years, the hedge becomes fickly, and the plants turn poor and ftinted in appearance, the eafieft and only effectual remedy for that difeafe, is to cut the stems of the plants clean over, at the height of an inch or two above the ground; after which they will fend forth much stronger shoots than they ever would have done without this operation. And if the hedge be kept free of weeds, and trained afterwards in the manner above deferibed, it will, in almost every cafe, be recovered, and rendered fresh and vigorous. This amputation ought to be performed in autumn, or the beginning of winter; and in the spring, when the young buds begin to fhow themselves, the ftumps ought to be examined with care, and all the buds be rubbed off, excepting one or two of the ftrongeft and beft placed, which fhould be left for a ftem. For if the numerous buds that spring forth round the ftem are allowed to fpring up undifturbed, they will become in a few years as weak and ftinted as before; and the hedge will never afterwards be able to attain any confiderable height, ftrength, or healthfulness. I have feen many hedges, that have been repeatedly cut over, totally ruined by this circumftance not having been attended to in proper time. If the ground for 16 or 20 feet on each fide of the hedge be fallowed at the time that this operation is performed, and get a thorough drefling with rich manures, and be kept in high order for fome years after wards, by good culture and meliorating crops, the hedge will profper much better than if this had been omitted, especially if it has been planted on the level ground, or on the bank of a fhallow ditch." (7.) HEDGES, Dr ANDERSON'S METHOD OF MENDING. "It fometimes happens (fays Dr Anderfon) that a hedge may have been long neglect ed, and be in general in a healthy ftate, but full of gaps and openings, or fo thin and ftraggling as to form but a very imperfect fort of fence. On thefe occafions, it is in vain to hope to fill up the gaps by planting young quicks; for thefe would always be outgrown, choked, and starved, by the old plants: nor could it be recovered by cutting clear over by the roots, as the gaps would ftill continue where they formerly were. The only methods that I know of rendering this a fence are, either to mend up the gaps with dead wood, or to plash the hedge; which laft operation is always the most eligible where the gaps are not too large to admit of being cured by this means. The operation I here call plashing, may be defined, a awattling made of living wood. To form this, fome stems are firft selected, to be left as ftakes at proper diftances, the tops of which are all cut over at the height of four feet from the root. The fraggling fide-branches of the other part of the

hedge are alfo lopped away. Several of the remaining plants are then cut over, close by the ground, at convenient distances; and the remaining plants are cut perhaps half through, so as to permit them to be bent to one fide. They are then bent down almoft to, a horizontal pofition, and interwoven with the upright ftakes, fo as to retain them in that position. Care ought to be taken, that these be laid very low at thofe places where there were formerly gaps; which ought to be farther ftrengthened by fome dead stakes or truncheons of willows, which will frequently take root in this cafe, and continue to live. And fometimes a plant of eglantine will be able to overcome the difficulties it meets with, strike root, and grow up fo as to strengthen the hedge in a moft effectual manner. The operator begins at one end of the field, and proceeds regularly forward, bending all the ftems in one direction, fo that the points rife above the roots of the others, till the whole wattling is completed to the same height as the uprights. An expert operator will perform this work with much greater expedition, than one who has not feen it done could easily imagine. And as all the diagonal wattlings continue to live and fend out fhoots from many parts of their stems, and as the upright fhoots that rife from the stumps of thofe plants that have been cut over quickly rush up through the whole hedge, these serve to unite the whole into one entire mafs, that forms a strong, durable, and beautiful fence. This is the best method of recovering an old neglected hedge that hath as yet come to my knowledge. In fome cafes it happens, that the young shoots of a hedge are killed every winter; in which cafe it foon becomes dead and unfightly, and can never rife to any confiderable height. A remedy for this disease may therefore be withed for. Young hedges are obferved to be chiefly affected with this diforder; and it is almost always occafioned by an injudicious management of the hedge, by means of which it has been forced to fend out too great a number of shoots in fummer, that they are thus rendered fo weakly as to be unable to refift the fevere weather in winter. It often happens that the owner of a young hedge, with a view to render it very thick and clofe, cuts it over with the fhears a few inches above the ground the first winter after planting: in confequence of which, many fmall fhoots fpring out from each of the ftems that has been cut over; each of which, being afterwards cut over in the fame manner, fends forth a ftill greater number of shoots, which are smaller and smaller in proportion to their number. If the foil in which the hedge has been planted is poor, in confequence of this management, the branches, after a few years, become fo numerous, that the hedge is unable to fend out any fhoots at all, and the utmost exertion of the vegetative powers enables it only to put forth leaves. Thefe leaves are renewed in a fickly ftate for fome years, and at laft ceafe to grow at all—the branches become covered with fog, and the hedge perishes entirely. But if the foil be very rich, notwithstanding this great multiplication of the stems, the roots will ftill have fufficient vigour to force out a great many fmall fhoots, which advance to a great length, but never attain a proportional

thickness.

thicknefs. And as the vigour of the hedge makes them continue to vegetate very late in the autumn, the frofts come on before the tops of thefe dangling hoots have attained any degree of woody firmness, so that they are killed almost entirely by it: the whole hedge becomes covered with thefe long dead shoots, which are always difagreeable to look at, and ufually indicate the approaching end of the hedge. The causes of the diforder being thus explained, it will readily occur, that the radical cure is amputation; which, by giving an opportunity to begin with training the hedge anew, gives alfo an opportunity of avoiding the errors that occafioned it. In this case, care ought to be taken to cut the plants as close to the ground as poffible, as there the ftems will be lefs numerous than at any greater height. And particular attention ought to be had to allow very few fhoots to arife from the ftems that have been cut over, and to guard carefully against shortening them. But as the roots, in the cafe here fuppofed, will be very strong, the shoots that are allowed to fpring from the ftems will be very vigorous, and there will be fome danger of their continuing to grow later in the feafon than they ought in safety to do; in which cafe, fome part of the top of the fhoot may perhaps be killed the first winter, which ought, if poffible, to be prevented. This can only be effectually done by giving a check to the vegetation in autumn, fo as to allow the young fhoots to harden in the points before the winter approaches. If any of the leaves or branches of a tree are cut away while it is in the ftate of vegetation, the whole plant feels the lofs, and it fuffers a temporary check in its growth in proportion to the lofs that it thus fuftains. To check, therefore, the vigorous vegetation at the end of autumn, it will be prudent to choose the beginning of September for the time of lopping off all the fupernumerary branches from the young hedge, and for clipping off the fide branches that have fprung out from it; which will, in general, be fufficient to give it fuch a check in its growth at that feafon, as will prevent any of the fhoots from advancing afterwards, If the hedge is extremely vigorous, a few buds may be allowed to grow upon the large ftumps in the fpring, with a view to be cut off at this feafon, which will tend to ftop the vegetation of the hedge still more effectually. By this mode of management, the hedge may be preferved en tire through the first winter. And as the fhoots become lefs vigorous every fucceffive feafon, there will be lefs difficulty in preferving them at any future period. It will always be proper, however, to trim the fides of a very vigorous hedge for fome years while it is young, about the fame feafon of the year, which will tend powerfully to prevent this malady. But when the hedge has advanced to any confiderable height, it will be equally proper to clip it during any of the winter months, before Candlemas."

(8.) HEDGES, LORD KAMES'S METHOD OF RAISING AND MENDING. Lord Kames, in his Gentleman Farmer, gives several directions for the raifing and mending hedges, confiderably diffe. rent from thofe above related. For a deer-park he recommends a wall of tone coped with turf, having laburnums planted close to it. The heads VOL. XI. PART I.

of the plants are to be lopped off, to make the branches extend laterally, and interweave in the form of a hedge. The wall will prevent the deer from breaking through; and if the hedge be trained eight feet high, they will not attempt to leap over. He prefers the laburnum plant, because no beaft will feed upon it except a hare, and that only when young and tender. Therefore, no extraordinary care is neceffary except to preferve them from the hare for 4 or 5 years. A row of alders may be planted in front of the laburnums, which no hare nor any other beatt will touch. The wall he recommends to be built in the following manner, as being both cheaper and more durable than one conftructed entirely of ftone. Raise it of ftone to the height of two feet and a half from the ground, after which it is to be coped with fod as follows. Firft, lay on the wall, with the graffy fide under, fod cut with the spade four or five inches deep, and of a length equal to the thickness of the wall. Next, cover this fod with loofe earth rounded like a ridge. Third, prepare thin fod, caft with the paring spade, fo.long as to extend, beyond the thicknefs of the wall, two inches on each fide. With these cover the loofe earth, keeping the graffy fide above; place them fo much on the edge, that each fod fhall cover part of another, leaving only about two inches without cover : when 20 or 30 yards are thus finished, let the fod be beat with mallets by two men, one on each fide of the wall, ftriking both at the fame time. By this operation the fod becomes a compact body that keeps in the moisture, and encourages the grafs to grow, Laftly, cut off the ragged ends of the fod on each fide of the wall, to make the covering neat and regular. The month of October is the proper feafon for this operation, because the fun and wind, during fummer,, dry the fod, and hinder the grafs from vegetating. Moift foil affords the best fod. Wet foil is commonly too fat for binding; and, at any rate, the watery plants it produces will not thrive in a dry fituation. Dry foil, on the other hand, being commonly ill bound with roots, fhakes to pieces in handling. The ordinary way of coping with fod, which is to lay them flat and single, looks as if intended to dry the fod and kill the grafs: not to mention that the fod is liable to be blown off the wall by every high wind. Where the wall itself is to be used as a fence without any hedge, a ditch is to be made on each fide, beginning a foot from the root of the wall, and floping outward to the depth of three feet, or at least two and an half. The ditch fhould be equally floped on the other fide, fo as to be four feet wide. A rood of this fence, including every article, may be done for three fhillings or thereabouts; and a field of 10 acres thus inclofed, for about 301. which by a ftone wall would cost upwards of sol. It will also ftand many years without any need of reparation; while ftone walls require no less than 2 per cent, of the original coft expended annually to keep them up. The advantages of a thorn hedge, according to our author, are, that it is a very quick grower, when planted in a proper foil; fhooting up fix or seven feet in a feafon. Though tender, and apt to be hurt by weeds when young, it turns ftrong, and may be cut into any shape. X

Even

leaving all above full freedom of growth. By this dreffing the hedge takes on the appearance of a very steep roof; and it ought to be kept in that' form by pruning." This form gives free access to rain, fun, and air; every twig has its fhare, and the whole is preferved in vigour. When the ftems have arrived at their proper bulk, cut them over at 5 feet from the ground where the lateral branches end. This answers two excellent purposes: the firft is to ftrengthen the hedge, the fap that formerly afcended to the top being now distributed to the branches; the next is, that a tall hedge ftagnates the air, and poifons both corn and grafs near it. A hedge trained in this manner is impenetrable even by a bull. With regard to the practice of plashing an old hedge recommended by Dr Anderson, (fee 7.) his lordship obferves that "it makes a good interim fence, but at the long run is deftructive to the plants; and accordingly there is fcarcely to be met with a complete good hedge where plafhing has been long practifed. A thorn is a tree of long life. If, instead of being massacred by plashing, it were raised and dreffed in the way here defcribed, it would continue a firm hedge perhaps 500 years. A hedge ought never to be planted on the top of the mound of earth thrown up from the ditch. It has indeed the advantage of an awful fituation; but being planted in bad foil, and deftitute of moisture, it cannot thrive; it is at beft dwarfish, and frequently decays and dies. To plant trees in the line of the hedge, or within a few feet of it, ought to be abfolutely prohibited as a pernicious practice. It is amazing that people fhould fall into this error, when they ought to know that there never was a good thorn hedge with trees in it. And how fhould it be otherwife? An oak, a beech, an elm, grows fafter than a thorn. When fuffered to grow in the midst of a thorn hedge, it spreads its roots every where, and robs the thorns of their nourishment. Nor is this all: the tree overshadowing the thorns, keeps the fun and air from them. At the fame time, no tree takes worse with being overshadowed than a thorn. It is fcarce neceflary to mention gaps in a hedge, because they will feldom happen where a hedge is trained as above re commended. But in the ordinary method of train inn, gaps are frequent, partly by the failure of plants, and partly by the trefpaffing of cattle. The ordinary method of filling up gaps is to plant fweet briar where the gap is fmall, and a crab where it is large. This method I cannot approve, for an obvious reafon; a hedge ought never to be compofed of plants which grow unequally. Thofe that grow faft, overtop and hurt the flow growers; and with refpect, in particular, to a crab and fweet briar, neither of them thrive un-‹ der the fhade. It is a better method to remove all the withered earth in the gap, and to fubftitute fresh fappy mould mixed with some lime or dung. Plant upon it a vigorous thorn of equal height with the hedge, which in its growth will equal the thorns it is mixed with. In that view there fhould be a nursery of thorns of all sizes, even to 5 feet high, ready to fill up gaps. The beft feafon for this operation is in October. A gap filled with fweet briar, or a crab lower than the hedge, invites the cattle to break through arisi

that do not exceed a foot or 15 inches; but thorns five or fix feet high may be planted erect; and a hedge of fuch thorns, well cultivated in the nursery, will in three years arrive to greater perfection than a hedge managed in the ordinary way will do in twice that time." After the hedge is finished, it is abfolutely neceffary to fecure it for fome time from the depreda tions of cattle; and this is by no means an eafy matter. "The ordinary method of a paling (fays his lordfhip) is no fufficient defence against cattle: the moft gentle make it a rubbing poft, and the vicious wantonly break it down with their horns. The only effectual remedy is expenfive; viz. two ditches and two hedges, with a mound of earth between them. If this remedy, however, be not palatable, the paling ought at least to be of the ftrongest kind. I recommend the following as the beft I am acquainted with: Drive into the ground ftrong ftakes three feet and an half long, with intervals from eight to twelve inches, according to the fize of the cattle that are to be inclofed; and all precifely of the fame height. Prepare plates of wood fawed out of logs, every plate 3 inches broad and half an inch thick. Fix them on the head of the stakes with a nail driven down into each. The stakes will be united fo firmly, that one cannot be moved without the whole; and will be proof accordingly against the rubbing of cattle. But, after all, it is no fence againft vicious cattle. The only proper place for it is the fide of a high road, or to fence a plantation of trees. It will indeed be a fufficient fence against sheep, and endure till the hedge itself becomes a fence. A fence thus completed, including thorns, ditching, wood, nails, &c. will not much exceed two fhillings every fix yards." His lordship difcommends the ordinary method of training hedges by cutting off the top and fhortening the lateral branches in order to make it thick and bufhy. This, as well as the method of cutting off the ftems two or three inches above the ground, indeed produces a great number of fhoots, and makes a very thick fence, but which becomes fo weak when bare of leaves, that cattle break through it in every part. To determine the best method of proceeding in this cafe, his lordship made an experiment on three hedges, which were twelve years old at the time he wrote. The first was annually pruned at the top and fides; the fides of the fecond were pruned, but not the top; and the third was allowed to grow without any pruning. The firft, at the time of writing, was about 4 feet broad, and thick from top to bottom; but weak in the ftems, and unable to refift any horned beaft: the ad was ftrong in its ftems, and close from top to bottom: the 3d was alfo ftrong in its ftems, but bare of branches for two feet from the ground; the lower ones having been deprived of air and rain by the thick fhade of those above them. Hence he directs that hedges fhould be allowed to grow till the ftems be 5 or 6 inches in circumference, which will be in 10 or 12 years; at which time the hedge will be 15 feet or more in height. The lateral branches next the ground must be pruned within two feet of the ftem; thofe above must be made shorter and shorter in proportion to their distance from the ground; and ats feet high they must be cut clofe to the ftem,

X 2

tramph