246 HOW TO GROW GOOD FENCES. 



CHAPTER XXXVII. 



ON THE VERMIN OF FENCES. 



One of the great objections urged to more hedge-row 

 fences than are necessary, is that of harbouring 

 Vermin; it therefore becomes necessary to inquire 

 into the history of those creatures designated by a 

 name everywhere held in reproach. 



The meaning of the term vermin has not been 

 very accurately defined. Johnson considers " any 

 noxious animal " to belong to vermin ; whilst Bailey, 

 anxious to be more specific, defines vermin to be 

 " any kind of hurtful creature or insect, as rats, 

 mice, lice, fleas, bugs, &c. ; " but whatever lexico- 

 graphers may say upon the subject, there can be no 

 doubt that, in country language, what are known as 

 noxious animals are distinguished from noxious in- 

 sects, the first being in most counties known as 

 " Varment," to which belong rats, mice, stoats, &c, 

 to which the keeper would add kites, hawks, owls, 

 magpies, and other birds; the second term being 

 limited to those parasitic creatures by which both 

 man and some inferior animals may be attacked. 



The farmer's notion of vermin, as applied to the 

 hedge-row, differs from these, as it includes all beasts, 

 birds, reptiles, insects, &c, which directly injure 

 the hedge, together with such as choose the hedge- 

 row or the bank on which it might be grown as a 

 breeding-place, from which they migrate to farm 



