APRIL 173 



with knives. It is a sight that moves me to indignation. Two 

 of the fields where these trees were growing nicely I have since 

 let in allotments, and now I am sorry to see that the thrifty 

 husbandmen who hire them have trimmed the saplings to the 

 shape of round bushes, partly perhaps from a sense of neatness, 

 but more, as I believe, because they think that the white- 

 thorns as they increase will cast some shadow on their land. 



Picturesque as they may be, there is no doubt that forest trees 

 in hedgerows, and especially elms, are very mischievous in this 

 respect, as any one who has observed the effect of a line of them 

 upon a growing crop can testify. With the single exception of 

 grass, where the shade they give to cattle in summer and the 

 protection from winds in winter amply compensate for the de- 

 preciation in quality of the herbage within reach of their drip 

 and shadow, there is no crop that does not suffer much from the 

 influence of hedgerow timber. Oak does the least damage, and 

 elms and ash do the most, because their roots run so fleet that for 

 many yards round about each tree sucks the goodness from the soil. 

 Beech — that lady of the forest — as I think, of all timbers the 

 most feminine in appearance, is also the most poisonous, since 

 the drip from it seems to have the effect of destroying under- 

 growth of whatever nature. Owing perhaps to its spreading 

 nature, or to the poor quality of the wood, this tree, however, is 

 never planted in fences, at any rate in our neighbourhood. 



This morning I inspected the sheep, and found that they are 

 not yet really recovered from their recent misfortunes. Some of 

 the lambs seem still weakly and half-crippled, while several of the 

 ewes are suffering from dreadful colds, which necessitate their being 

 caught and the clearing out of their nostrils. It is a ridiculous 

 but pathetic sight to see an old ewe having her nose sympa- 

 thetically wiped by Hood armed with a wisp of rough clover hay. 



April 30. — Yesterday was fine and warm, and the horses were 

 employed in ploughing and in carting home the faggots which have 

 been cut upon the Bath Hills. 



