116 HEDGE-ROW TIMBER. 



Hedge-row Timber, and the consequent prevalence 

 of mistaken views on the subject, that the present 

 state of things is to be attributed. Some gentlemen 

 do indeed introduce into their Agreements, clauses 

 affecting to provide against the mischievous prun- 

 ing which is here condemned, but, except in the 

 neighbourhood of a mansion, where a strict look 

 out is generally kept, they are quite inoperative 

 they are a dead letter, for not only does the prun- 

 ing go on, but, as I have just hinted, the trees are 

 often attacked below too, and deprived of their 

 roofs, as well as their branches, thus cutting off 

 their supply of nutriment from the atmosphere 

 above, and from their legitimate sources of supply 

 from the soil. Both these practices ought to be 

 most strictly interdicted. 



My indignation and regret have a thousand 

 times been excited, on seeing the noblest of all our 

 Hedge-row Trees, the Oak, clipped of its beautiful 

 proportions, and reduced by repeated snaring, as 

 it is most aptly called, to the capacity and shape 

 of a huge besom! and by this truly infamous treat- 

 ment, deprived not only of all its scenic beauty, 

 but actually of its specific character ! and, if not 



