CHAPTER IX.

FENCING.

Setting Fences-Proper Season for planting Quicks-Methods of Planting and Cleansing-Proper Age for planting-Expense of Quicks-Favourable Soils -How prepared-Plants require Attention and Protection-Should be Manured Pruning Hedges-Form-Cutting and Warping-Willow and other Hedges-Planting Quicks-Evil Effects of injudicious PruningFence Railing-Impropriety of using too light Fence Railing-ExpenseStone Fences-Dry-walls-Cause of Failure-How avoided-Coping of Fence Walls, &c.

Good close hedges are very essential adjuncts to a railway, and if properly planted and in a thriving condition, nothing more decidedly improves its finished appearance.

When a line of railway has been staked out, we would recommend that only the fence railing should be erected, until the excavations and embankments are completed; as a young hedge is so apt to be trodden down, and the quicksets destroyed, whilst such works are in operation.

Advantage ought to be taken during open seasons, say from October to February, or until the middle of March, to plant the quicks before the sap rises; and it should be observed that young hedges ought always to be kept clean; no weeds being suffered to grow amongst them, especially for the first three or four years.

Along the tops of excavations the quicks should be set near the surface, having a good mound above them to afford moisture to their roots; but at the foot of embankments they ought to be a little elevated, as a preventive of excessive damp during winter. They ought also to be placed on the outside of the mound, in order that the latter may form a barrier to secure the plants from occasional slippings of the embankment. Quicks, three years transplanted are decidedly the best. They certainly are more costly in the first instance than younger ones; but eventually become by far the cheapest, and also form a hedge much sooner and stronger. We have frequently noticed the speedy growth of such quicks when judiciously planted and carefully preserved. At present they are selling at the rate of fifteen shillings per thousand.

The subjoined particulars relative to hedges are extracted from a work entitled Useful and Ornamental Planting, published (1832) under the superintendence of the Society for the diffusion of useful knowledge. "There are several kinds of quick fences, which differ merely in the mode of planting the thorns (Crataegus oxycanthus.) The white thorn is a plant much checked in growth by every other, whether herbaceous weed or shrub, that mingles with it in the soil. It delights in a strong loam, on poor sands, or damp clay; and requires great attention in the preparation of the soil, in the selection of the plants, and in the mode of planting. It must be carefully protected from cattle and rabbits, which, by nipping off the tender first shoots of the spring, seriously injure its growth, and defeat the intention of raising an effective fence at the least cost, and in the shortest space of time.

On poor sandy soils, the depth of earth for the reception of the plants should be made as great as possible, and they should be placed on the top of the bank. Manure of rotten leaves, compost of marl or clay, and dung, ashes, or any substance that will enrich the line of planting, should be dug in if possible for the encouragement of the roots of the young quick. Where the soil is damp and clayey, planting the thorns on the face of the bank is the best practice. The ground should be perfectly clean, or the cost of weeding it afterwards will be considerable, and the fence will make little progress, if it do not fail altogether.

The cost of the manure above alluded to will be amply repaid by the more rapid growth of the quick, saving much of the expense of weeding, and of filling up blanks and gaps in the hedge, which always accompany the rearing of this kind of fence on poor or badly prepared ungenial land. The size of the plants deserves particular attention, for by planting strong three-year-old transplanted thorns, the success of the fence is secured, and the distance of time for its completion shortened by three years.

In the management of the hedges when planted, weeding is most essential, for if coarse grass or rampant weeds are suffered to mingle with the lower branches and foliage of the quick, the injury is very considerable. The top of the hedge should be kept level from the first cutting, until the plants have attained to the desired height. The sides of the hedge ought to be kept also of an even surface; by shortening the side branches every year to within an inch, more or less, of the preceding year's wood, the bottom of the hedge is maintained equally thick and impenetrable with the upper

portion. The most generally approved form of a hedge is that of the hog's mane; however, if the soil has been properly prepared, the plants selected of the largest size, and the keeping clear of weeds, and most judicious mode of pruning persevered in, the hedge will flourish in every shape.

By keeping the top of a hedge level, it is not meant that all the plants should be shortened in the leading shoot of the stem, but only those which overtop their thin neighbours. If this be properly attended to, the evil effects which follow the practice of shortening without exception the leading shoots of every plant of the hedge will be avoided, as well as those which occur when the upright growth of any plant is left uncontrolled until it reach to the desired height.

Where a hedge has been neglected, is overgrown and irregular, the best mode is to cut it down level with the soil, and then to dig the earth about the stumps, inserting plants of strong quick in the gaps where they occur. It may happen that the fence cannot be dispensed with, for the time the young shoots from the old roots require to renew the fence. In this case, the mode of cutting a fourth part of the stems to the desired height, and another fourth part a few inches from the ground, and warping the remainder with these, is found a useful practice.

Besides the white thorn or quick, and the furze (Ulex Europaus), there are many other shrubs which may be planted under certain circumstances with effect as fences. In exposed cold soils, the Huntingdon willow, beech, birch, and alder, may be used with advantage." It might be added that we have sometimes observed in damp situations along the foot of railway embankments common willows planted with advantage; and that they

throve wonderfully and soon formed a good fence.

The subjoined extracts are selected from British Husbandry, a useful work published in 1837, by the same excellent institution. "In the month of October, it has been before observed, the season for planting will commence, and this work may be carried forward during the winter, or until the middle of March.-Mark out the intended line of the ditch, nine inches apart from the line where the quick-wood is intended to shoot up. Take a spit of earth nine inches wide and three inches deep from out of the intended ditch, and invert it upon this space-lay it neat and level, cut off the tops of the thorns two inches above the root, and, if needful, shorten the tap-root. Place the plants, so cut, four inches apart between plant and plant, in such a manner that the tops may appear exactly above this cooping'; cover the roots first with another spit of earth from the surface of the intended ditch, and then sufficiently with next best soil from the same place; but do not overload the roots with earth."

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"A hedge planted in this manner requires, in order to render it a fence in the shortest time, a little judicious pruning. It should be considered that the main strength of a hedge consists in the unyielding stoutness of the principal stems; and to have these of the requisite strength, they should only be moderately pruned on each side, cutting out the strongest branches, which act as rivals to the stem, but never topped until they have acquired a diametric bulk of one inch at the height of three and a half feet from the ground. When this strength of stems is obtained, the hedge is complete as a fence against all kinds of cattle which are not high leapers, and will so continue for many years, with