no other labour than what may be annually given by a keen trimming-hook, or by shears, to keep it from uselessly spreading.

Many fine young hedges are ruined by being too frequently headed down at different heights in their youth. It should be remembered that every individual thorn in a hedge is like a single tree planted on a lawn, both of which are wished to rise into full strength and stature as soon as possible; but this result can surely not be obtained by repeatedly cutting off the head of either one or the other. When a sufficient number of stems can be once made to rise from the bottom of the quick either in the first or second year, the leaders should never be cropped till they have gained the requisite strength; for by so doing, a thick mass of spray is produced, which, to the eye, appears a barrier, and, for a short time a fence against sheep; but not against a mounted sportsman, who will trample it down, or against heavy cattle, which in browsing, press through it. Besides, by heading down before the stems are sufficiently strong, the hedge becomes top-heavy from the abundance of spray, which shades, and eventually kills that below, rendering the stems naked at bottom; through which pigs, or lambs, or Welsh sheep soon make thoroughfares."

RAILING. A very erroneous plan of fencing consists of using too light scantling for the posts and railing, so that they are frequently destroyed by cattle and otherwise, and require continual repairs; indeed, not unfrequently, to be replaced altogether, before the hedges can form a sufficient fence. We have known many thousand rods of fence-railing executed in this county at the rate of three shillings and nine pence per rod of seven yards, including the expense of all materials, leading and labour:

the holes for the posts being dug two feet deep in the ground; the posts sawn, holed, and set with three rails in height. In our opinion it would be far more advisable to pay an additional price in the first instance, and have stronger fences set, which would avoid many expenses hereafter, and well repay for the additional price incurred.

WALLS.-Stone walls are extensively used in some districts as a mode of fencing. Sometimes they are built with mortar, but more commonly without it; when they are termed dry-walls. The former kind is certainly always preferable, providing that lime be attainable at a reasonable expense. Of both kinds, however, we must observe that the stones ought to be well connected together by bondstones the breadth of the wall. When speaking on this subject it is worth remarking that ties are often very injudiciously introduced; the wall being carried up for a certain height without any throughs, and then a profusion of them occurring, frequently laid so near each other that no body of wall can be inserted between them: hence the frequency of failure in the walls at such places. Now, were the throughs properly distributed throughout the wall, no more labour would be requisite than in the preceding mode; but the wall would become considerably stronger and more durable. It might be added that this mode of throughing applies with equal force to any kind of masonry.

The coping of fence-walls is also very important; the simplest and best kind being that composed of the flattest stones placed edgewise. These should always be set in good mortar; overhanging the wall, and be properly wedged together by chips of stone, until they become compact and individually immovable; when they afford very effective protection to the walls beneath.

CHAPTER X.

PERMANENT WAYLAYING.

Utility of Malleable and Cast-iron rails contrasted-Birkenshaw's Patent Wrought-iron rails-Comparative Weights required for each kind of Rail -Malleable iron susceptible of great change of form without diminishing its cohesive power-Property of being extensible or malleable prevents exfoliation-Resists separation from its adjoining particles with nearly equal forces -Cast-iron hardest and toughest at the exterior-Cause-Oxydating effects of each kind of Rails considered-Comparative wear of Malleable and Castiron both wheels and rails, from actual practice-Permanent Roads-Ballasting-Drainage-Depth of Ballast-Materials for Ballasting-Consolidating Ballast-Packing blocks and sleepers-Drainage of ballast-Stone blocksQuality of stone-Chairing blocks-Waste of stone by Percussion-How avoided-Fixing blocks at right-angles-Obliquely-Advantages and Disad vantages of each method-System proposed, combining the Advantages of each-Of roads laid upon Transverse Wooden Sleepers-Their utility-Laying Curved Roads-Grooved rails for crossing roads upon a Level-Description of the mode of fixing the Chairs and Rails upon the Manchester and Liverpool railway-Mr. Losh's-Parallel malleable iron rails, and mode of Fixing-Improved Chairs-Dimensions and weight-How fixed to the Rails -Fastenings by Pins-Keys-Clasps, &c.-Continuous timber bearings -Originally used in America-Used upon the Great Western RailwayNewcastle-upon-Tyne and North Shields Railway-Utility of Longitudinal Bearers-Materials, &c.-Method of Fixing-How Connected and Secured -Patent Felt introduced-Continuous Rails described-Their Weight, &c. -Borrodail's "Patent Felt."

After the old wooden railways had been superseded by cast-iron ones, another important improvement took place, namely, the use of malleable iron rails. At the introduction of the latter, however, a great prejudice existed against them; upon the grounds that from their softness and fibrous texture, they would be liable to exfoliate, and consequently wear

fast away &c. As the subject is of considerable importance we have selected the opinions of different gentlemen conversant with such matters.

In Mr. Chapman's report relative to a communication between Newcastle-upon-Tyne and Carlisle, the following passage favourable to cast-iron occurs: "The railway may either be formed of cast-iron or malleable iron. The latter may be somewhat less expensive, and has been found eligible in rolley-ways below ground, in which the weight on each wheel is not considerable: but, above ground, with heavy waggons, their utility, or rather their duration, is not likely to be so great as rails of cast-iron of due strength; because with heavy carriages, and case-hardened wheels, (which are much in use except for locomotive engines, as it would diminish their adhesion to the way), the following effect is produced from the softness of malleable iron, viz., the rails formed of it being drawn out between rollers, and consequently fibrous, the great wheels, rolling on those ways, expand their upper surface, and at length causes it to separate in thin laminæ. The injury from oxydation is comparatively small."

This report, as might naturally be expected, drew a reply from one of the advocates of malleable iron, and accordingly we find Mr. Longridge, a proprietor of the Bedlington Iron-works, warmly defending its utility. He also produced the following letter from Mr. Thompson, Lord Carlisle's agent at Tindale Fell, Cumberland, where malleable iron rails had been in use for sixteen years:— "The whole of the wrought-iron which has been used from twelve to sixteen years, appears to be very little worse. The cast-iron is certainly much worse, and subject to considerable breakage, al

though the rails are about double the weight of the malleable iron rails. The waggons used to carry near a Newcastle chaldron, viz. 53 cwt."-Newcastle Courant, December 18, 1824.

Subjoined is the elaborate report of Mr. Stephenson, the gentleman who successfully completed that wonderful enterprise, the Liverpool and Manchester Railway. The report will well repay attentive perusal. It showed very clearly at the time it was written, the superiority of malleable iron, which has indeed been fully corroborated since by practical experience.

"The great object in the construction of a railroad, is that the materials shall be such as to allow the greatest quantity of work to be done at the least possible expenditure; and that the materials also be of the most durable nature. In my opinion," continues Mr. Stephenson, “Birkenshaw's patent wrought-iron rail possesses these advantages in a higher degree than any other. It is evident that such rails can at present be made cheaper than those that are cast, as the former require to be only half the weight of the latter, to afford the same security to the carriages passing over them, while the price of the one material is by no means double that of the other. Wroughtiron rails, of the same expense, admit of a greater variety in the performance of the work, and employment of the power upon them, as the speed of the carriages may be increased to a very high velocity without any risk of breaking the rails; their toughness rendering them less liable to fracture from an impulsive force, or a sudden jerk. To have the same advantages in this respect, the castiron rails would require to be of enormous weight, increasing, of course, the original cost.