Natural Trellises. 97 



and uncultivated ; beech, privet, blackthorn, redthorn, 

 ivy, sycamore, holly, laurel, and the rest, for each has 

 not only its own characteristics from a practical or 

 agricultural point of view, but its specific interest from 

 a picturesque or natural history point of view. As for 

 an evergreen hedge, what better symbol of homely 

 protection could you have ? As it grows and grows, it 

 weaves, as it were, an outer nest round a dwelling, close, 

 kindly, familiar, and compact as a wall, with a whole 

 world of breathing consciousness about it. What 

 were England without its hedgerows that give an 

 individuality and distinctive countenance to every field, 

 which they at once beautify and shelter from the frosty 

 winds of winter, and from the fierce burning heats of 

 summer? They present to the careful observer in a kind 

 of epitome, the life of the district in which he may be. 

 He cannot be far out for study if he is near a bit 

 of hedgerow. They are natural trellises for wonderful 

 climbers and creepers as beautiful as the vines of Italian 

 climes, and they gather the fairest of our wild flowers 

 to shelter under them. As for the former, think of the 

 convolvulus, white and pink, and of the honeysuckle, 

 and of the sweetbriar or eglantine! How the May in 

 its season spreads its blooming clusters, as has been 

 said, like a bride's train, and how the redthorn blushes ! 

 How the bryony creeps arid peeps, and, as other 

 beauties fade and pass, still wreathes its festoons 

 and puts out its brilliant berries! How the elder 

 spreads its creamy flowers and shows its dark berries, 

 and the wild hop hangs its clusters to the wind ! 



Then for the wild flowers what an array in con- 

 stant succession ! In the spring, a grand advance wing, 

 come the violet, the primrose, the speedwell, the celan- 

 dine, herb-robert, and the sweet anemone, drooping 



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