Hedge- Gardens. 177 



gone its baptism of fire) only recently regularly fed, 

 it is almost tame and may be approached without 

 difficulty. This is why the keeper just looks round 

 the allotment gardens now and then, and lets his dogs 

 run about ; for their noses are much more clever at 

 discovering hidden fur or feathers than his eyes. 



In winter if the weather be severe, hares and 

 rabbits are very bold, and will enter gardens though 

 attached to dwelling-houses. Sometimes when a 

 vast double-mound hedge is grubbed, the ditches 

 each side are left, and the interior space is ultimately 

 converted into an osier-bed, osiers being rather pro- 

 fitable at present. But before these are introduced it 

 is necessary that the ground be well dug up, for it is 

 full of roots and the seeds of weeds, which perhaps 

 have lain dormant for years, but now spring up in 

 wonderful profusion. In consideration of cleansing 

 the soil, and working it by digging, burning the weeds 

 and rubbish, &c, the farmer allows one or two of his 

 labourers to use it as a garden for the growth of 

 potatoes, free of rent, for say a couple of years. 

 Potatoes are a crop which flourish in fresh-turned 

 soil, and so they do very well over the arrangement. 

 But unfortunately as they dig and weed, &c, in the 

 evenings after regular work, they have an excuse for 

 their presence in the fields, and perhaps near 



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