300 SKETCHES OF RURAL AFFAIRS. 



midst of a thorn-hedge, it spreads its roots everywhere, 

 and robs the thorns of their nourishment. Nor is this 

 all : the tree, overshadowing the thorns, keeps the sun 

 and air from them. At the same time, no tree takes 

 worse with being overshadowed than a thorn.' Hedge- 

 row trees are strongly recommended by all the old 

 writers on agriculture, as being the best means of grow- 

 ing timber for the navy, and giving shelter to fields ; 

 and even a recent writer on timber seems to favour the 

 plan of planting the oak in hedge-rows, as if that tree 

 could not be sufficiently gnarled for naval purposes, and 

 rendered thick in the bark for the purposes of tanning, 

 in other exposed situations than in thorn-hedges, where 

 they could do no injury. Hedge-trees at a distance, no 

 doubt, give a closely-fenced appearance to a country, 

 which then looks not unlike an extensive orchard ; but 

 they are at best formal, ill-shaped, generally stunted, 

 and often twisted, on account of being acted on by the 

 winds, and are injurious to roads and crops near them, 

 though they may yield tough timber. The oak suffers 

 in hedge-rows in all these respects, as well as less 

 valuable wood. It may seem ungracious treatment, after 

 trees have grown some years amongst hedges, to root 

 them out ; but they deserve no better fate, because they 

 are intruders, and have truly been designated the land- 

 lords' thieves. If intended for shelter, plantations and 

 clumps are much better adapted for the purpose than 

 single trees, and form far finer objects in the landscape 

 than rows of stunted trees. If thorns are made to 

 fence plantations, they should be planted on the outside 

 of the mound, though facing the north, that the air 

 may have free access to them ; and no large forest-tree 

 should be planted near the thorn-hedge which fences 

 the plantation, for, independent of overshadowing, 

 thorns dislike being mixed with other plants. It is 

 not unusual to see beech mixed with thorn as a hedge ; 

 but beech, anywhere, is no terror to live-stock in fields, 

 and should never enter into a fence on a farm, however 



