ISO

Inclofing of Land. — Hedges.

of water, the alder and the willow may be planted with confiderable advantage,as by throwing out a great number of branches from their roots, they affordgreat fupport to fuch banks.

And in very expofed and elevated fituations, the beech and the birch will pro-bably be found the mod proper plants for railing live hedges with, as experiencehas fhewn that, by proper attention, in fuch places they form good fences in aIhort time.

Wherever a mixture of different forts of plants is employed in making ahedge, fuch fhould always be chofen as are capable of thriving well on the famekind of foil, and in the fame kind of fituation, as well as of growing with nearlyequal degrees of ftrength ; for without this a very imperfefct fence muff be formed,as while fome of the plants are getting forward with great vigour and luxuri-ance, others will proceed in a very feeble and fickly manner, from being checkedby the fhade and obftruQion caufed by the larger ones, thus rendering it thin,uneven, and defective. Befide, fome forts of plants, by being blended with othersin the making of live hedges, have a difpofition to fmother and dellroy them, bytoo clofely uniting with, or intwining round them. Honey-fuckles, brambles,and many other plants of the fame nature, have conftantly a tendency ta pro-duce fuch effe£fs in hedges.

Before any kind of quick hedge is planted, the line of ground on-which it isto be placed fhould be ploughed or dug up, and undergo fuch a degree'ofpreparation, as will render the foil, of whatever kind it maybe, perfe£Uy mel-low and friable, as well as lefs difpofed to throw up weeds; as by fuch meansthe fibres of the plants will not only be more readily enabled to fhoot out andeftablifli themfelves in the ground, but the plants be lefs liable to injury from theeffe£ls of weeds ; from both of which caufes young hedges often fuffer greatlywhen the plants are put in, in the common mode, without the ground beingfcarcely in any way prepared for their reception. In fome infiances, perhaps,as where the foil is extremely ftiff and tenacious, fuch kinds of manures as havea tendency to leffen the cohefion, may be of much utility ; but in other cafesthey do not feem to be fo particularly neceffary.

After the ground has been thus well broke down and rendered fuitable for theyoung plants, the next thing is to put them in. This fhould always be done inthe early part of autumn, in order that the earth or mould may fall down andget well fixed about their root fibres before the winter frofts fet in. Whenplanted in early fpring, which is frequently the pra&ice, we have not found themto thrive by any means fo well, and to be much more liable to injury from the