MR. FORSYTH ON GAME PRESERVES AND FENCES. 



205 



I have studied his interest in the first instance, and that my 

 proposals are calculated to make the hedgerows produce fruit 

 as well as shelter, so that their produce may go towards keeping 

 the poor of the parish, besides fruit for the farmer's table and 

 for the market ; and when this is accomplished, surely he will 

 not grudge the graceful Pheasant and melodious Thrush the 

 gleanings of the vintage. The hedgerows of some small farms 

 in this neig-hbourhood have a number of Damson-trees as 

 standards, and in favourable seasons the crop of plums Pays 

 THE Rent ! My father hedged a piece of nursery-ground with 

 gooseberry-bushes, and a very good prickly fence it made ; it 

 yielded tart gooseberries, and some very good ripe ones. I ob- 

 served in the grounds of Mr. Wilmot, the eminent London 

 market-gardener, lines of Flemish Pear-trees trained thus, sup- 

 porting one another, and forming a substantial fence for the 



Showing the mode of training only. Tlie appearance of the trees being tiiat of a thick-set 

 hedge, could give no idea of the pendent fashion of their training, which is a very im- 

 portant point. 



division of land, and they were loaded with fruit. These may 

 be cited as samples of what has been done in this way, leaving 

 what may he done for further consideration. 



But before I go any further, I must beg it to be borne in 

 mind as a sine qua 7ion, that where Rabbits abound, they must 

 be either confined to warrens, or fairly hunted down to exter- 

 mination ; for it is impracticable to rear either game or cover, 

 or to prosecute the superior culture of any estate with such 

 enemies as those. Unfortunately some proprietors are fond of 

 rabbits, but upon what account I know not, for they are not 

 only inelegant in their appearance, having a short and laboured 

 bound, unlike the graceful movements of the hare ; but by their 

 burrowing and scraping they disfigure the face of the landscape, 

 as much as the nuisances of the mole ; and rabbits are even worse 

 than moles, inasmuch as the mole does not eat grain or other 

 crops, or bark trees, as the rabbit does ; and the mole, moreover, 

 keeps out of sight, whereas the rabbit is constantly ambling 

 across your path to hide him in his scrape. Rabbits yield food 

 for Stoats, Weasles, Rats, &c., which are exceedingly injurious 

 to game and to farmers ; but this is not all, for rabbits, on ac- 

 count of their being so easily caught, are the cause of boys 

 learning pilfering habits, and they encourage poachers and re- 



