NEW ENGLAND FENCES 231 



fence when new, perhaps more so, for it is more 

 prim and more glaring, as there is no alternation 

 of light and shade in its straight line. But age im- 

 proves its appearance also, and when the kindly- 

 touch of nature has been laid upon it, and has 

 slanted a post here and warped a board there, and 

 given it her weather-mark, and sealed it with her 

 broad seal of gray-green and black lichens, by 

 which time weeds and bushes have grown in its 

 shelter, it is very picturesque. Its prevailing gray 

 has a multitude of shades; the varied weather- 

 stains of the wood, the lichens, the shags of moss 

 and their shadows, and some touches of more 

 decided color, as the yellowish-green mould that 

 gathers on some of the boards, the brown knots and 

 rust-streaks from nail-heads, patches of green 

 moss on the tops of posts, and here and there the 

 half — or less — of a circle, chafed by a swaying 

 weed or branch to the color of the unstained wood. 

 The woodpecker drills the decaying posts, and 

 bluebird and wren make their nest in the hollow 

 ones. There is often a ditch beside it, in which 

 cowslips grow, and cat-tails and pussy-willows, 

 akin only in name; on its edge horse- tails and wild 

 grass, and higher up on the bank a tangle of hazel, 

 wild mulberry, gooseberry and raspberry bushes, 

 with a lesser undergrowth of ferns and poison ivy. 

 The field and song sparrows hide their nests in 

 its slope, and if the ditch is constantly and suffi- 



