142 Fencing for woodland 



plants elsewhere for fencing. The following year the 

 roots of the Quick left in the ground began to come up 

 and make nice little plants, and in another year there 

 was quite a strong line of Quick in the line of the old 

 fence. 



The best plants to use. There has been much talk of 

 the Cherry Plum as a fence plant, but it is inferior to 

 Quick in endurance, and in every way. I have much 

 greater faith in some of the American Hawthorns, such 

 as the Scarlet and Cockspur Thorns, which are well 

 armed, tough, sturdy, and fine in colour in autumn. The 

 difficulty is to get a stock of them, as nurserymen are 

 not yet aware of their value, and they are mostly grown 

 for pleasure grounds, and grafted, which means that 

 the native Quick will in time kill the foreigner. I have 

 used some thousands of the Sweetbrier for fencing, 

 and with excellent effect. In one way it is better than 

 Quick, as cattle will not touch it, and creatures of any 

 kind give it a wide berth. A rough woodland fence 

 made of Sweetbrier and Quick, or Cockspur Thorn, 

 is the best possible protection against stock. Barbed 

 wire is not half as fierce as old Sweetbrier, which is 

 impassable to the boldest boy, who would laugh at the 

 idea of barbed wire stopping him. 



Let the woodland fence grow freely, and only cut it 

 down every ten years or so ; such bold fences are far 

 better in their effect round the woodland than small 

 trim fences, while they may be more effective against 

 stock, and are often as pretty as any garden with wreaths 

 of Honeysuckle, Clematis, and Wild Rose. 



Woods without fencing. The needlessness of any 

 kind of fencing in established woodlands is proved by 

 the millions of acres of forest in many parts of middle 



