DETESTABLE WIRE-FENCING. 57 



solidify and harden about the wire, which then cannot be 

 withdrawn ; and in consequence, when taken finally to the 

 sawpit, some three or four feet of the very ' butt ' and best 

 part of the trunk will be found useless. No sawyer will 

 risk his implement — which requires some hours' work to 

 sharpen — in wood which he suspects to contain concealed 

 iron. So that, besides the injury to the appearance of 

 the tree, there is a pecuniary loss. Even when the wires 

 are not twisted round, but merely rub against one side of 

 the bark, the same scars are caused there, though not to 

 such an extent. Rough and strong as the bark seems 

 to the touch, it speedily abrades under the constant pres- 

 sure of the metal. 



The keeper thinks that all those owners of property 

 who take a pleasure in their trees should see to this and 

 prevent it. There is nothing so detestable as this wire- 

 fencing in his idea. You cannot even sit upon it for rest, 

 as you can on the old-fashioned post and rails. The 

 convenient gaps which used to be found in every hedge 

 at the corner are blocked now with an ugly rusty iron 

 string stretched across, awkward to get over or under ; 

 while as for a horseman getting by, you cannot pull it 

 down as you could ' draw ' a wooden rail, and if you try 

 to uncoil it from the blackthorn stem to which it is 

 attached, the jagged end is tolerably certain to' scrape the 

 skin from your fingers. 



The keeper looks upon this simply as another sign of 



