HEDGEROW TREES AND HEDGES 249 



whin fence is apt to be damaged by severe frost, 

 and rabbits soon swarm along the hedgerow and 

 make it open and of little use as a fence. 



The shape of the hedge is a matter worthy of 

 more consideration than it often receives. Thick* 

 square-shaped, and narrow upright hedges can 

 be very conveniently grown in gardens, home- 

 parks, and pleasure-grounds ; but with regard to 

 field-hedges the form must necessarily be one by 

 which effective protection can be secured with 

 least outlay for maintenance, and this is best 

 attained by a shape varying from a sharp-pointed 

 triangle to something of a paraboloid form. In 

 high situations, where heavy falls of snow may lie 

 for a long time on the hedges, the advantage lies 

 in having rather a narrow-based, pointedly wedge- 

 shaped outline as the contour of a section ; 

 whereas in the milder and more sheltered agri- 

 cultural districts broad bulging sides, meeting at 

 a bluntish apex, make a finer hedge and a better 

 fence against cattle. The drawbacks against these 

 advantages are the wider growing-space its 

 greater breadth requires, and the larger amount 

 of attention it demands to maintain it and keep 

 it close and trim. 



