300 tTbe (Barfcen 



all one sort, and will not so much as admit of 

 the blackthorn to be mingled with the white, be- 

 cause of their unequal progress ; and, indeed, 

 timber trees set in the hedge (though contem- 

 poraries with it) do frequently wear it out : and 

 therefore I should rather encourage such plan- 

 tations to be at some yards' distance, near the 

 verges, than perpendicularly in them. Lastly, 

 if in planting any of the most robust forest- 

 trees (especially oak, elm, chestnut) at compe- 

 tent spaces, and in rows, you open a ring of 

 ground at about four feet distance from the 

 stem, and prick in quickset plants, you may, 

 after a while, keep them clipped, at what 

 height you please. They will appear ex- 

 ceedingly beautiful to the eye, prove a good 

 fence, and yield useful bush, bavin, and (if 

 you maintain them unshorn) hips and haws 

 in abundance ; this should therefore be es- 

 pecially practised, where one would invite the 

 birds. 



In Cornwall they secure their lands and 

 woods with high mounds, and on them they 

 plant acorns, whose roots bind in the looser 

 mould, and so form a double and most durable 

 fence, encircling the fields with a coronet of 

 trees. They do likewise, and with great com- 

 mendation, make hedges of our Genista spino- 

 sa, prickly furze, of which they have a taller 



