238 HOW TO GROW GOOD FENCES. 



take the bryony and the hop as the types, it is true 

 that their bine is annual ; but each year the quantity 

 and strength of this augments — each year the mass 

 of foliage becomes larger and thicker. The twining 

 arms twist around any branch strong enough to 

 support them, and then, once at the top of the fence, 

 they spread over its surface, making so thick a mass 

 that the legitimate hedge-plants are no longer 

 visible; thus sun and air are excluded from them, 

 and they soon pine away. These are difficult to eradi- 

 cate, as they have stout rhizomata (underground 

 stems) interlaced with the very roots of the hedge- 

 plants : still, if pains be taken to pluck away the 

 bine as soon as it makes its appearance, it must in 

 time be destroyed ; for, like even the hawthorn tree, 

 hardy as it is, if the leaves be kept from perfecting 

 themselves, they soon pine away, and ultimately die 

 altogether. 



The other plants are more properly weeds of the 

 hedge-bank than of the hedge, and as such need only 

 be mentioned with weeds in general as pests to be 

 periodically removed by hoeing, digging, and other- 

 wise clearing the ground between and about the 

 hedge-row work, more particularly necessary in the 

 first few years of planting. 



