quick-fence, might possibly be found
out; and accordingly I made some tryals, with good success, (at
least better than the old way) tho' not to my full satisfaction,
till I had perus'd Mr. Evelyn's _Silva_, &c. The method I us'd, was
this: First I set out the ground for ditches and quick, in breadth
ten foot; then subdivided that by marking out 2 foot 1/2 on each
side (more or less, at pleasure) for the ditches, leaving 5 in the
middle between them: Then digging up two foot in the midst of that
5 foot, plant the sets in; tho' it require more labour and charge,
I found it soon repay'd the cost. This done, I began to dig the
fosses, and to set up one row of turfs on the outside of the said
five foot; namely, one row on each side thereof, the green side
outmost, a little reclining, so as the grass might grow: After
this, returning to the place begun at, I ordered one of the men to
dig a spit of the under-turfmould, and lay it between the turfs,
plac'd edge-wise, as before describ'd, upon the 2 foot which was
purposely dug in the middle, and prepar'd for the sets, which the
planter sets with two quicks upon the surface of the earth, almost
upright, whilst another workman lays the mould forward, about 12
inches, and then sets two more, and so continues. Some there are
who plant three rows of sets about 8 inches interval; but I do not
approve it; for they choak one another. This finished, I order
another row of turfs to be plac'd on each side upon the top of the
former, and fill the vacuity between the sets and the turfs, as
high as their tops, always leaving the middle where the sets are
planted, hollow, and somewhat lower than the sides of the banks, by
8 or 10 inches, that the rain may descend to their roots, which is
of great advantage to their growth, and far better than by the old
way; where the banks too much sloping, the roots of the sets are
seldom wetted in an ordinary season, the Summer following; but
which if it prove dry, many of the sets perish, especially the late
planted: Whereas those which I planted in the latter end of April,
tho' the Summer hapned to be somewhat dry, generally scap'd, very
few of them miscarrying. Now the planting thus advanc'd, the next
care is fencing; by setting an hedge of about 20 inches high upon
the top of the ba