fi6ff Mr. William Pitt on the 



ought to be brushed out of hedges about Midsummer, as is very often done in 

 Staffordshire for the sake of their ashes, which are worth all the labour. 



The dogs' mercury (Mercurialis perennis), is said to be noxious to sheep; it is 

 very common and abundant in some hedges, and appears very early in the spring, 

 when sheep food is very scarce; on which account it is still more dangerous, if it 

 be so at all. 



Most kinds of smooth wood make but an inferior fence, and therefore, upon 

 plashing down a hedge, they are to be rejected and cut out, wherever there is 

 enough of the hawthorn, crab, or blackthorn to supply their place ; but the haw- 

 thorn is much to be preferred : the blackthorn (Frunus spinosa), makes a good 

 impervious fence, but is apt to grow out of bounds, from its roots spreading and 

 sending out shoots; the shrubs of the rose kind ( Rosa's ), are objectionable on the 

 same account, as well as because their branches grow irregular also ; and the 

 bramble is still more objectionable on these accounts: even the h2^z]e (Corylus 

 fli'e//a?;a J, may be termed a hedge weed in some populous neighbourhoods, be- 

 cause it tempts trespassers to break the fences in seeking for the nuts. Timber 

 trees should be planted sparingly, or with a proper selection, in hedges, for they 

 certainly much injure the fences, which never grow so vigorously under the shade 

 of trees as elsewhere ; the elm is the least objectionable on this account, from its- 

 lofty growth ; the ash may certainly be termed a hedge weed on many accounts, 

 though so valuable in its proper place, which should be in clumps, coppices, or 

 plantations ; the alder is often planted in hedges on low land, where it is- 

 of quick growth, but should always be rejected on upland ; where, indeed, for 

 fence, every thing must yie d to the hawthorn, whose superiority is establtshedj,. 

 and well known. 



VI. JFeeds in Woods and Plantations, 



The cultivation of timber may be considered as a branch of Agriculture, and 

 as that part of it peculiarly the province of the gentlemen, and owner of the soil,, 

 since the length of time required to bring the crop to perfection, must necessarily 

 preclude all others; and little expectation can reasonably be formed of personal 

 profit; yet it often happens, that the individual amusing himself with this employ- 

 ment, has at the same time the pleasure of reaping the crop, raised by the labour 



