64 My Little Farm 



spread of superfluous gorse on good land advances 

 rapidly in many districts. Why not pass a brief 

 Act of Parliament empowering the State, at a 

 year's notice, to levy a tax of ten times the rent or 

 purchase annuity on any area so wasted ? Should 

 ten times be not enough, extend the tax until the 

 gorse disappears before it, and let the resulting 

 revenue go to subsidise a class in agricultural 

 education as near as possible to the man who pays. 

 The only other plant worth discussion for farm 

 hedging is the thorn, but our farmers know more 

 already about it than they put in practice. 



I have planted trees, and this is the place for a 

 word about them. A common and blindly 

 selfish objection to planting is that the trees are 

 " only for those that come after us." Twelve to 

 thirteen years ago I put down five pieces of 

 plantation, in different directions, making nearly 

 half a mile, for shelter and ornament, on land 

 hitherto mainly waste. The trees are already 

 old friends, some rising to eighteen feet, all doing 

 well, presenting a new horizon of foliage to the 

 eye and a revolution in landscape which makes the 

 whole place almost unrecognisable. Notwith- 

 standing the success, my site was about as difficult 

 as could be chosen. The main border runs across 

 the farm from side to side, with a break for space 

 near the house. I wanted it so, because the 

 prevalent winds and all the storms came that way ; 

 but the belt passed through six different kinds and 

 conditions of soil, requiring as many kinds of trees, 

 with as many variations in the attention and treat- 



