Ditches, Lanes, Copses, and Hedgerows 65 



flower, fruit and leaf. There is great variety among 

 our Brambles, and not a few foreign ones are worth 

 introducing, if we can get them. Anyone who notices 

 English landscape beauty in spring will know how 

 much we gain from Crab and Sloe, and May Blossoms 

 in the fence. More beautiful things we cannot have, 

 but it is wise to add to them as we can in various 

 ways. Various bushes often abundant in gardens may 

 be introduced here and there. I have used some of 

 the dwarf Japan Crabs and Apples, the common Medlar, 

 the Quince, the Japan Pear, which in some places 

 comes so easily from seed, sowing the seeds on 

 banks as well as planting. The beautiful ' Pyracantha ' 

 is a dwarf evergreen shrub, which I look forward to as 

 an excellent evergreen fence plant. 



It is not only this kind of shrub we may use, for 

 beautiful climbers, such as the wild species of Clematis, 

 which are often easily raised from seed ; or small 

 plants may be got for a few pence from English 

 or continental nurseries. I speak of such kinds as 

 the Virgin's Bower (C. Viticella), C. Flammula, C. mon- 

 tana, C. graveolens, C. campanulata and other wild 

 kinds, many of them yet to be introduced. The 

 gardeners are not always alive to their charms, and 

 if we get them at all, we may sometimes have to put 

 them in newly-made fences, in which they do and 

 look well. The large Bindweed and other climbers 

 may also be used in these free fences. Our common 

 Ivy is a delightful plant in fences, and some of the 



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