222 HOW TO GROW GOOD FENCES. 



ingly long-lived, and, if left to itself, forms trees or 

 considerable size, which are occasionally very beauti- 

 ful as forming part of park scenery ; still in hedges it 

 can be kept to any size, and cutting it in causes a new 

 wood to spring up, which has all the characteristics of 

 a young, quick plant. 



These are merits of the greatest importance in 

 favour of the whitethorn, which will ever make this 

 the best hedge-row plant, as if we succeed to a white- 

 thorn fence, which has been trimmed and kept within 

 due bounds, there is no difficulty in continuing the 

 process ; and so if the hedge be left to grow tall and 

 wild it may be cut out either wholly or partially, 

 some stems cut half through — as in the process of 

 plashing — laid down, and so a secure though not so 

 tall a fence be formed, that will only grow thicker year 

 by year. 



Blackthorn — sloe (JPrunus spinosa) is formidable 

 enough as regards thorns, but it cannot stand the same 

 amount of cutting as the whitethorn, and, when cut, 

 its young shoots being almost thornless, makes a 

 hedge of the sloe the less repellant the more vigorous 

 are its shoots. 



The crab-apple (Pyrus mains) and the buckthorn 

 (Bhamnus catharticns) may be considered as acci- 

 dental in fences; and as, to a great extent, they 

 will grow with the quicks and suffer the same 

 treatment without growing as upstarts on the one 

 hand, or refusing to start again after crippling 

 on the other, they are both tolerated in fences 

 without quite getting a character for being hedge- 

 row weeds. 



The holly {Ilex aquifolium) possesses a wonderful 



