6o The Wild Garden 



stock-raising districts, and not clipped but grown 

 naturally. One very often sees beautiful, almost 

 natural fences of Holly and Quick in the forest 

 districts of the south of England, and among Holly 

 hedges well formed in better land, those at Woolver- 

 stone, in Suffolk, are excellent. Except, however, 

 in open woodless districts where rabbits are few, 

 Hollies are sure to be barked when rabbit food is 

 scarce. I have planted several thousands within a few 

 years, and none are intact that are not protected by 

 wiring. Swget__Rrier, Dog Rose, and riit-l^g^vpH 

 Bramble are very good to mix, and beautiful too in 

 a rough, wildjonking hedge. 



It is as necessary to avoid bad fencing plants as to 

 select and grow good ones. The worst is the common 

 Privet, the ghost of what a ffence plant should be. 

 Its rapid growth deceives, and it is often used with 

 a dangerous sharp-pointed iron fence outside as a guard, 

 and perhaps, at the same time, to be the death of some 

 animal. Privet is a rapid grower, or seems so at first ; 

 it is never so strong a grower in the end as Quick, 

 Holly, or wild Rose. The quicker the Privet grows 

 the worse it is, and the plant should never be seen in 

 a fence. Laurel is a soft useless fence plant, apt to 

 be killed in cold districts and in valleys. Spruce is 

 sometimes used in hedgerows, and is most unfitted 

 for them for many reasons. The common Elder is 

 always a source of weakness in a fence, and should 

 never be planted or allowed to live in a fence. 



