Sentence:  These stems should be stripped (or nearly so) of their branches, and notched at the bottom (in the way which every hedger knows) to form a <WSD>pleach</WSD>: these <WSD>pleaches</WSD> should be laid in the intervals along the line of the stubs, and again notched, [...] 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  A branch of a shrub, tree, etc., used for pleaching; a pleacher.