238 OUR FORESTS AND WOODLANDS 
all the hedgerow timber from the face of rural 
England; but this is never likely to be the 
case. What might however, not altogether 
without advantage, take place is, that more con- 
sideration might be given to the choice of 
standard trees to be grown there. True, it is 
indeed impossible to name kinds having specific 
advantages as hedgerow trees, for all of them 
damage the crop to some extent; hence the 
only thing remaining is to see which are least 
objectionable, as doing least harm to pasturage 
or to the cereal and root crops grown in the 
fields. To some extent damage may be obviated 
by pruning, but there are somewhat narrow limits 
to this. 
If shelter be wanted, elm, maple, and syca- 
more have the advantage of coming into leaf early 
in spring. But then the elm is both a greedy’ 
robber of the soil-nutrients meant for the field- 
crops and a hindrance to the ploughshare (vide 
page 148), while the heavy foliage and the spread- 
ing branches of the other two damage the crops 
greatly by overshadow and drip. Heavily-foliaged 
trees like beech, hornbeam, and_ horse-chestnut 
are quite out of place in a hedge, as their drip 
