44 ANIMAL ARTISANS 



line " in trees. In any park where there are a number 

 of trees of less than sixty years' growth, especially 

 limes, elms, and ashes, it will be noticed that the 

 height of the lower branches above the ground is 

 uniform. They are as neatly cut away below as if by 

 a woodman with shears. This is the work of the 

 cattle, which regularly browse the shoots and twigs as 

 high as their heads will reach. 



It will be noticed that where bushes or boughs 

 hang over the pavement in London, especially in 

 a new street, these are all cut back to a uniform 

 height, which is the level that clears the tall 

 hat. It is quite possible that in provincial towns, 

 where tall hats are not in daily wear, the line 

 descends an inch or two lower. 



Where horses, which have a much higher reach 

 than cattle, are kept in parks, the browsing limit 

 is much higher, and more irregular than in cattle- 

 fed parks. A minor effect on park landscape due 

 to the animals contained in them is seen in the 

 nature of the fences. Where red deer are kept 

 the fencing is at least eight feet high; that for 

 fallow deer is reduced to six feet, or six and a half 

 feet ; while where cattle only are kept an ordinary 

 hedge is usually sufficient. Our domestic cattle are 

 also responsible for the thirty thousand miles of 

 quickset hedges and railings along the sides of our 

 railways, on to which they would otherwise stray and 

 cause accidents. 



In wild England the most striking contribution 

 made directly by the larger animals to scenery is the 



