CLIMBING THE HEDGEROW 



AT a particular date very early in summer the hedgerow, 

 which was a maze of crooked twigs of quick or a tangle of 

 many growths, begins to take on an appearance almost as if 

 it were being crushed out upwards, from bottom to top. 

 Then begins a race for the upper air, and the hedgerow 

 bushes, which are always visible, which are the hedge, become 

 mere supports, like pea-sticks, for a variety of climbing aspir- 

 ants. At the foot, quaintly suggesting the scoop of a wave 

 before it breaks, the goose-grasses and stitchworts begin the 

 race. The stitchwort perhaps would not generally be called 

 a climbing plant ; but it is too weak-kneed for the most part 

 to stand alone, and with proper support attains a greater height 

 than most people would realise. On many characteristic 

 hedgerows these stitchworts along with the goose-grass, reach 

 upwards with a concave dip, where they sag before reaching 

 the support of higher branches. They climb so regularly 

 that a long stretch is almost symmetrically covered ; and when 

 the star-flowers come out at the upper edge, you might be 

 persuaded into thinking that they were flecks of foam on the 

 upper ridge of a curling wave. The goose-grass is more 

 regular still and more truly a climber. It has the proper 

 apparatus, whereas the stitchwort climbs only because it 



