22 ON SURREY HILLS. 



Those broad stripes, keeping moist even in midsum- 

 mer, that line either side of so many country roads, 

 are the good angels of the fields. Deep water- 

 courses run down all of these moist borders, hidden 

 by the tangle. The fields must be drained, more or 

 less ; and these are the natural outlets for the water 

 that would, if it remained, ruin the land for corn- 

 growing purposes. 



Besides this, the tangled stripes and the old hedges 

 benefit our domestic creatures as well as all wild 

 things. The horses, donkeys, cows, ducks, and 

 geese of the poorer proprietors all find food on 

 these roadside stripes. And what would the cot- 

 tagers, who keep bees in considerable quantities 

 now, on the modern system of bee-keeping, do, if 

 the wastes, with all their wealth of wild-flowers, were 

 " improved " away ? The distances that bees fly to 

 gather honey would hardly be credited except by 

 those who keep them, and are familiar with their 

 ways. 



If I wished to see that feathered model of suspicion 

 the hawfinch, I should expect to find him, if any- 

 where about, on a hedge-top, cracking sloe, bullace, 

 or wild-plum stones. 



