The Field and Roadside Hedges, in most places in the west of Scotland, particularly in Ayrshire, are exceedingly well managed, being trained so as to form a body of verdure from 3 to 4 ft. broad at the base, from 5 to 7 ft. high, and from 6 in. to one foot wide at the top. When pruned, they are always cut upwards with a knife or bill, and are never clipped or cut downwards. The estate of Mr. Oswald, at Auchincruive, is, in this respect, as in most others, a perfect model for landed proprietors. In Dumfriesshire and the stewartry of Kircudbright, the hedges by the roadsides are frequently planted in dwarf walls, which are backed up with earth (as the caper plant is about Marseilles and Toulon), so as to spring up from the face of them, and form hedges over their tops; a practice suitable for districts abounding in stones, because it saves all expense of cleaning the hedge when young, and insures a close-bottomed fence.
