HEDGE-ROW TIMBER. 113 



themselves as far all round the bole as the branch- 

 es. I do not profess to be able to form a very 

 decided opinion as to the number of the roots, root- 

 lets, fibres, &c., but I have seen quite enough of 

 the habits of the tree to convince me, that the roots 

 extend themselves much farther than is here sup- 

 posed ; and it is well known to all farmers, that 

 to a distance far beyond this, vegetation is almost 

 totally destroyed ; and that, near a Hedge-row 

 (dividing two arable fields) which is filled wiih 

 filthy, scabbed, stunted Ash Trees, which, from 

 "mismanagement," have been brought into such 

 a condition as positively to be making no progress 

 at all, sow what he may, the farmer can never 

 reap any thing : and yet these unsightly things, 

 which are the latest of all other of our common 

 deciduous trees, in getting their foliage, and almost 

 the earliest out again, are suffered to linger out 

 their feeble, but blighting existence, until by slow 

 decay they become so unsound, that the wind 

 blows them down, and they are fit for nothing but 

 the fire ! or, if they do not actually reach this 

 stage, they are only cut down because the owner 

 has the fear of such a result before his eyes ! A 



