18 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE. 



VII. HEDGES AND ENCLOSURES. 



The green fences in England, by which the farms are sur 

 rounded and divided, are often a beautiful feature in the land 

 scape. Where they are complete, and neatly trimmed and 

 formed, with here and there a single plant left to rise above the 

 rest, which many deem more beautiful to the eye than a demo 

 cratic level, and when seen whitened with their blossoms in the 

 spring, or blushing deeply with their fruit in autumn, they are 

 exceedingly pleasing to the eye. In general, they are formed 

 of the white thorn, and sometimes of the holly, and not urifre- 

 quently of these two plants intermingled. But I must confess 

 myself somewhat disappointed in the condition of the hedges 

 throughout England. Of course there are many exceptions, and 

 perhaps the cases to which I refer should be considered as 

 exceptions to the general fact ; but in frequent instances they 

 are greatly neglected. There are many vacancies in them : they 

 are not well trimmed ; they are intermingled with various weeds 

 and rubbish ; and, instead of being confined to a width of four 

 or six feet, they are often seen with their pernicious accompani 

 ments occupying more than a rod in width. 1 inquired why 

 this was permitted ; and why, when the rest of the face was so 

 clear and bright, such dirt spots were allowed to remain : the 

 answer was, &quot; that they were left thus for the protection of the 

 game, and that they made excellent covers for partridges and 

 foxes.&quot; When so much care and expense are incurred in the 

 protection of this kind of game, it is to be hoped that it may 

 suggest always the higher duty of taking care of the human 

 game, the hungry and ragged children, which in some parts of 

 England are as numerous, and growing up as wild, and many of 

 them as little taught, as the rabbits in a warren. 



The enclosures in England are of various extent, from ten to 

 twenty and fifty acres. There are some farms with scarcely a 

 subdivision, and in these cases the stock are soiled. In parts of 

 England, however, they resemble the divisions of New England 

 farms, arid are of various sizes, but generally small, and of all 

 shapes, and often not exceeding four or five acres. It is reported 

 of a farmer in Devonshire, that he lately cultivated one hundred 

 acres of wheat in fifty different fields. There must have been 



