288 SKETCHES OP RURAL AFFAIRS. 



so ; for utility as well as beauty is therein concerned. 

 Stone fences are, indeed, more convenient in particular 

 districts, and can often be had in places where hedges 

 would scarcely grow. They require no care or pruning, 

 are not injured by sheep or other animals, and afford no 

 shelter for birds. But in this last respect their merit, 

 though much extolled, is very questionable. In order 

 to admit it, we must first be sure that the presence of 

 birds is an evil ; and this it would be difficult to prove. 

 For it has been credibly stated that on a farm where the 

 experiment was tried of exterminating hedgerows and 

 trees, and thus getting rid of birds, the vast increase of 

 the insect tribes, and their ravages in the caterpillar 

 state, were so alarming, that it was necessary to restore 

 the old state of things as quickly as possible. 



The use of fences is chiefly confined to lowlands, for 

 among extensive ranges of hills, and in mountain dis- 

 tricts, the pastures are wnolly open, and flocks are fed 

 under the guidance of their respective shepherds. And 

 in a pastoral age this must have been the case almost 

 universally, whatever might be the character of the 

 country. 



Yet hedges of thorns as well as other fences have been 

 in use from a very remote period ; as is evident from 

 the frequent allusion made to them in the Sacred Scrip- 

 tures. The word of the Lord to an idolatrous people 

 was, " Behold, I will hedge up thy way with thorns." 

 Hosea ii. 6. The complaint of the prophet when la- 

 menting the miseries of Jerusalem, was, " He hath 

 hedged me about that I cannot get out ; he hath made 

 my chain heavy." Lament, iii. 7. In the parable of the 

 fenced vineyard, which brought forth wild grapes, the 

 declaration was, " I will take away the hedge thereof, 

 and it shall be eaten up ; and break down the wall 

 thereof, and it shall be trodden down." Isaiah v. 5. 

 "The way of the slothful" is said to be "as an hedge 

 of thorns." Prov. xv. 19. In an opposite sense, the 

 man whom God protects from evil is said to be hedged 



