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CHAPTER XV. 

 FENCES, COUNTRY AND GATES. 



FROM a hunting point of view, the chief value of fences 

 lies in the fact that they retard the hounds more than 

 the horses, and help the foxes to save their brushes. 

 On arable land, fences as a rule are used merely as 

 boundaries; but on grazing land, they are needed to 

 prevent stock from roving beyond their assigned limits. 

 Hence, in a grass country, the obstacles are generally 

 much more difficult to negotiate than on tilled ground. 

 Also, the nature of grazing stock demands variation in 

 the stiffness and height of the fences, which, in the 

 Midlands, have to restrain the migratory propensities 

 of frisky young bullocks ; but in dairy-farming counties 

 like Cheshire, much smaller and weaker ones amply 

 serve their purpose in acting as barriers to placid 

 bovine matrons. 



Farmers in the Shires have found that hawthorn 

 hedges make the most serviceable fences under old 

 time regulations. When these hedges are allowed to 

 grow in a natural manner, they take the form of a 

 bullfinch (Fig. 90), which, though impossible at many 



