one fet of roots to produce!) may we not be allowed to fuppofe, that a fimilar hedge, kept in a dwarfish ftate (in which ftate its produce, and confequently its exhaustion, could not be one tenth fo much as that in the former fuppofition) would live to the age of three or four hundred years? Tenants have only a temporary property in the hedges of their refpective farms; and it is the bufinefs of landlords, or their agents, to fee that they are properly treated. The value of an eftate is heightened, or depreciated, by the good or bad ftate of its fences; which, it is well known, are expensive to raise, and, when once let down, are difficult to get up again.

WITH refpect to the rough and the worn-out Hedges, which conftitute a large majority of the Hedges of this country, it is not an easy matter to lay down any precife rules of treatment. If the ground they grow in be fufficiently moift, they may be helped by felling, and layering, in the manner already defcribed, or by filling up the vacancies with young quicks, or with the cuttings of fallow, elder, &c. &c. first clearing the ground from ivy, and other encumbrances; but, in a dry bank, which has been occupied by the roots of trees and fhrubs for ages, and which, by its fituation, throws off the rain water that falls upon it, there can be little hope either of plants or cuttings taking to advantage.

THE

THE best affistance that can be given, in this cafe, is to drive ftakes into the vacancies, and interweave the neighbouring boughs between the ftakes, training them in the efpalier manner: or, if the vacancies be wide, to plash tall boughs into them.

THESE, however, are only temporary reliefs; for, if the bodies of the plants themselves be fuffered to run up, and to draw the nourishment from the plashers, the breaches will foon be opened again, and it will be found difficult to fill them up a fecond time the only way by which to render this method of treatment in any degree lafting, is, to keep the whole hedge trimmed, as fnug and low as the purpose for which it is intended will permit; weeding it with the fame care as a young Hedge. By this means the vacancies in time will grow up, and one regularly interwoven furface will be formed.

AFTER all, however, an old worn-out Hedge, with all the care and attention that can be beftowed upon it, cannot continue for any length of time; and whenever it verges upon the last ftage of decline, it is generally the best management to grub it up at once, and raise a new one in its place; otherwife the occupier must be driven, in the end, to the humiliating and dif

graceful

graceful expedient of patching with dead Hedgework.

We are happy in having it in our power to fay, that the practice of replanting Hedges has, of late years, become prevalent in a county which has long taken the lead in many important departments of husbandry; and, although we have had occafion to cenfure fome of its practices, with refpect to Fences, we have great pleasure in giving to it due praife, in this particular; we speak of the county of Norfolk. The beft way is to level the old bank, about michaelmas, in order that the mold may be thoroughly moistened by the winter's rains, and tempered by the frofts. The roots and old ftems will, in general, more than repay the expence of grubbing and levelling, and when the old ftools are numerous, and fuel is dear, will, fometimes, go a good way towards raising the new Fence. One great advantage, arising from this practice, in an arable country, is doing away the crookedness of old Hedges.

THERE is one general rule to be observed, in renewing a Hedge in this manner, which is to plant a fpecies of Hedgewood different from that which formerly occupied the foil; and we know of no better change, after the Hawthorn, than the Crab tree and Holly.

II. MANAGE

II. MANAGEMENT OF HEDGEROW TIMBER. Thus, having mentioned the feveral ways of raifing and repairing LIVE HEDGES *, we now come to the training, and general treatment, of HEDGEROW TIMBER: and, firft, as to the young Oaks, which we recommended to be planted with the Hedgewood.

THE moft eligible length of ftem has been mentioned to be from fifteen to twentyfive feet; and, with due attention to their leading fhoots, there will be little difficulty in training them, on a good foil, to that or a greater height. If, by accident or disease, the head be loft, the ftem fhould be taken off at the ftub, and a fresh fhoot trained. However, in this cafe, if the Hedge be got to any confiderable height, it is beft to let the stump stand, until the first fall of the Hedgewood; for, then, the young tree may be trained with lefs difficulty.

NEXT to the danger of the young trees being cropt by cattle, is that of their being hurt by the Hedgewood: firit, from their being overhung and

* For farther remarks on this fubject, fee YORK. ECON. Art. FENCES; and MID. EcoN. under the fame Title.

fmothered

fmothered amongft it; fecondly, from their being drawn up too tall and flender; thirdly, from their being chafed against the boughs by the wind; and, laftly, from their ftems getting locked in between. the branches, fo as to caufe an indenture in the stem, and thereby render it liable to be broken off by the wind. The fimpleft way of guarding against these evils, is, to keep the Hedgewood down to fence height; otherwife, great care and attention are requifite in training Hedge timber, Even in this cafe, the plants fhould be frequently looked over,-to fee that the lower parts of them do not interfere with the stems of the Hedgewood, -to take off, as occafion may require, the lateral fhoots, and to give fimplicity and strength to the leaders, until the plants have acquired a fufficient length of ftem.

WHEN this is obtained, it may not be amifs to endeavour to throw the general tendency of the head to one or the other fide of the Hedge, in order to give air and head room to the plants, and crookedness to the timber. In short, if trees in Hedges are not treated with the fame attention as those in Nurseries and Plantations, it were better not to plant them; as they will become an encumbrance to the Hedge, without affording either pleasure, or profit, to the planter, or his fucceffors.

VOL. I.

H

WHAT