310 SKETCHES OF RURAL AFFAIRS. 



" The evils of numerous hedge-rows, especially if they 

 are high, are never more apparent than during the latter 

 part of the summer, when heavy rains are sometimes 

 experienced, with intervals of wind and sunshine suf- 

 ficient to dry the crops when they are exposed on all 

 sides, but which, from their being surrounded with high 

 fences, are thus allowed to lie damp and wet for several 

 days, a prey to mildew and every kindred disease. The 

 best sample of wheat is not found at the hedge-side, but 

 in those parts of the field where there is an unchecked 

 circulation of air ; and the greatest weight of turnips, 

 within a given space, is also found wherever there is a 



free play of the elements It must also be borne 



in mind that the number of fences seriously affects the 

 amount of labour on a farm. The most obvious evil is 

 the frequent turnings they occasion to the ploughman, 

 and the time expended in cultivating the land, difficult 

 of access, in their immediate neighbourhood. As a 

 matter of course, it follows that to every enclosure there 

 must be an entrance, and at most of the entrances a 

 gate, an item of expense which, when taken separately, 

 appears to be but trifling, but which in the aggregate 

 amounts to a considerable sum ; for all these gates 

 have to be repaired and ultimately replaced." * 



Wide and numerous hedge-rows are bad, on account 

 of the great exhaling surface they present, assisting in 

 the formation of the cold and vaporous atmosphere ex- 

 perienced throughout England. In spring-time, accord- 

 ing to Mr. Grigor, the leaf of the common elm sends off 

 vapour at the rate of three grains daily ; that of the 

 beech, two grains ; an oak, two and a half grains ; a 

 hawthorn, which is a very small leaf, one grain ; a sprig 

 of Scotch pine, scarcely anything ; and a sprig of holly, 

 yew, and larch, about a third of a grain each. It is 

 evident, therefore, that, where practicable, the holly 



* Grigor's Prize Essay on Fences, in the Transactions of the 

 Royal Agricultural Society of England. 



