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tie nourishment in their new situation, become dwarfish,and many of them languish or die. Where the soil in theline of fence is naturally poor, and no proper means havebeen used for its enrichment, the planter is often -disappoint-ed in the progress of the thorns. In such situations, the lineof the fence having been previously cleared from weeds, andafterwards carefully manured, the thorns ought to be planteddirectly from the seed-bed ; or some other species of plantsought to be substituted, more appropriate to the nature ofthe soil, such as beech i-n gravelly soils, or larch in those ofa coarse nature.
It is well known that white-thorns acquire numerous roots,by training in a nursery; yet it might be an experimentworth trying, to place some of these luxuriant nursery plants,on an open and elevated mountain face, and to compare theprogress they make with that of natural seedlings in the samesituation. The result will not probably be in favour of thenursery plants; and it may therefore merit consideration,whether it might not be better to employ seedling plants, oreven the seed itself, in the formation of new hedges, especial-ly in elevated and poor soils, in preference to pampered nur-sery plants, accustomed to exuberant nourishment, andliable to become stunted when transplanted into a more bar-ren soil. In the common way of employing nursery plantsof three or four years old, the hedge planter ought certainlyto have the soil in the proposed line of fence well selected,and properly prepared by manuring and the extirpation ofweeds. Fence-ditches, especially when they are intendedfor thorn-hedges, ought to be made between the wet and thedry soils, for the purpose of draining, as well as for fencing.Judiciously placed on one side of the ditch, thorns are sureto prosper uncommonly well, because the soil is usually rich,and the ditch prevents it from being too wet. Thorns willnot prosper on too dry soils, nor on those which are t toowet.
When it is necessary to conduct the line of a fence