FENCING. 45 



There are other fences where ornament is 

 an object, such as a single row of alders 

 where the land is wet or inclined to be damp, 

 or of beech or hornbeam if the ground be dry. 

 The latter is the more hardy and perhaps 

 better suited to our climate, but it retains its 

 leaves very late in the spring, which is objec- 

 tionable with some, especially as a fence for a 

 flower-garden. 



But the fence which is so generally seen 

 with us, is " the dry stone-wall fence," and is 

 greatly to be preferred among us for many 

 reasons. First, it occupies less space of 

 ground than a green fence ; secondly, it af- 

 fords no shelter for sparrows and seed-birds; 

 and thirdly, it contains within itself materials 

 for its repair or reconstruction. If it falls 

 to the ground, which is very likely to happen 

 if the work is let by the rood to an inex- 

 perienced hand, at a low price, and to one 

 who is not a " regularly educated waller," 

 not bred and born in a stone-wall county and 



