practice, that no arguments are fufficient to convince them of its impropriety. WE confefs ourselves partial to the fuperior abilities of the Norfolk Hufbandmen, in their general management of rural affairs; and we hold eftablished practices in Husbandry as things too refpectable to be wholly condemned without a full and candid examination: we will therefore endeavour, in as few words as poffible, to place the Norfolk practice of planting Hedges in its proper light. THERE are not, generally speaking, any woodlands in Norfolk. The Hedges, it is true, efpecially of the eaftern part of the county, are full, much too full, of wood, chiefly pollards. There are fome few timber groves, fcattered here and there but we find none of those extenfive tracts of coppice or underwood, in that county, which we see in other parts of the kingdom: confequently, the planter of Hedges experiences a scarcity of materials for temporary dead fences, having neither stakes, edders, nor rails, to makę them with. Fortunately for him, however, the foil is of fuch a nature (a light fandy loam of great depth, without a fingle ftone to check the fpade), that by digging a deep trench, and raising a mound with the foil, none of those materials are wanted. F 2 wanted. The face of the bank being carried upright, and a little brushwood fet along the top of it, a fufficient fence is formed; while the depth of the ditch prevents cattle from browzing upon the young plants. By this means, Hedges are raised in. Norfolk at a trifling expence, compared with the great coft beftowed upon them in fome counties; where two rows of pofts and rails are used, by way of temporary fences. But the difficulty in raifing a live hedge, in the Norfolk manner, arifes from the want of a proper place to plant the quicksets in, If it be put in, towards the top of the bank, as is ufually done, the evil confequences abovementioned follow: if, on the contrary, it be laid in, near the bottom, the fuperincumbent preffure of the bank, and the want of moisture in this part of it, render the progrefs of the young plants flow, for the first three or four years; while thofe above, having loofe made ground for their fibres to strike among, and having a fufficient fupply of moisture collected from every fhower, by the brush hedge, flourish apace; until the roots having grown too large for the bank, or the upper part of the bank itself having been washed down or moldered away, their career is stopt, at a time when those below, having struggled thro' the bank, and finding an ample fupply of air, moisture, and rich cultivated foil, to work among, are, in their turn, beginning to thrive ; and their main roots being firmly fixed in the foil itself, itfelf, there is no fear of their afterwards receiving a check. THUS it appears, that the Norfolk method has its advantage, as being cheap, with a disadvantage, arifing from the want of a proper place to put the plants in. THIS is eafily obviated by planting with an OFFSET; that is-inftead of continuing the face. of the bank with one unbroken flope-to fet it back a few inches, fo as to form a break or shelf, › where the quick fets are planted; for the obvious purpose of giving the young plants a fufficient fup-i ply of moisture, air, and pafturage, until their roots have had time to extend themselves to the adjoining inclofures, THIS method of raifing a Hedge is not a mere theoretical deduction, but has been practifed with fuccefs, in different parts of the kingdom; and, in a foil free from ftones and other obftructions of the spade, it is perhaps, upon the whole, the most eligible practice. BUT the best live hedges we remember to have feen, in any part of this kingdom, grow in the neighbourhood of Pickering, in the North Riding of Yorkshire, Thefe Hedges ftand nearly upon level ground, F 3 ground, with little or no bank or ditch; fo that the. plants have free range for pafturage, on both fides; the shallow trenches, by which the quickfets have been planted, being now grown up; having, it is probable, never been fcoured out fince they were. made. Indeed, the affiftance of a ditch is not wanted; no temporary fence whatever being requifite to be made, when the hedge is topped: the stems themselves are a fufficient barrier, ftanding in rows, like the heads of piles, and in fuch clofe order, that not a sheep, nor a hog, nor, in fome places, even a hare, can creep between them. In a few years, thofe living piles throw out heads aftonifhingly luxuriant, and every fix or seven years afford an ample and profitable crop of brushwood; and this without any expence whatever, except that of reaping it whereas, in Norfolk, the renewal of the ditch and bank, when the hedge is cut down, is nearly equal to the first coft; befides the difadvantage refulting from cutting off all communication with the inclosure on the ditch side, and thereby robbing the hedge of half its natural food. } THEREFORE, where a ditch is not neceffary as a drain, and where the nature of the fubftratum is fuck that it cannot be conveniently funk fufficiently deep to defend the young plants-the most eligible method, in such a situation, is to plant the Hedge upon upon the LEVEL GROUND, without either bank or ditch, in the manner hereafter to be defcribed; which method is now practifed, in the neighbourhood abovementioned, with very promifing fuccefs. HAVING thus endeavoured to deduce from actual practice what may be called the theory of raifing Hedges, we proceed to the application. FROM what has been faid, it appears that there are three distinct methods of raifing a Live Hedge: 1. WITH a ditch and plain bank. 2. WITH a ditch and offset. 3. UPON level ground. THE first has been already mentioned; and being familiar to every countryman, it is needless to enlarge upon it here, THE fecond is to be practised, in wet fituations, where furface drains are wanted, and where the ditch is neceffary to be kept open; and likewife, in dry fituations, where the fubfoil is fuch that a ditch çan be conveniently funk deep enough, to guard |