HEDGEROW TREES AND HEDGES 247 
places beech is the best hedge for farm purposes 
and protection. On poor soils, and especially 
within the influence of the sea-breeze, the Myro- 
bella or Cherry-plum (Prunus Myrobalana) seems 
worthy of encouragement as a hedge-plant, for it 
stands cutting almost as well as the hawthorn. 
Less suitable species for hedging purposes are 
the field maple, dogwood, spindle tree, elm, 
hazel, elder, blackthorn, buckthorn, wild cherry, 
crab apple, barberry, and the like, which add 
greatly to the beauty of the country-side, though 
often at the cost of giving a ready excuse for the 
wholesale use of barbed wire, that curse of many 
hunting counties. Rural England would certainly 
be much less charming than it is were the cold 
north-east winds of the ‘blackthorn winter’ to 
blow without bringing the white blossoms of the 
sloe in March and paving the way for the flower- 
ing of the wild cherry and the crab apple, while 
autumn would be less lovely without the rich 
colouring of the leaves of the field maple, dog- 
wood, and other gorgeously foliaged shrubs. But 
they are not good for the hedges, either considered 
as fences or as a shelter against wind. And still 
less in their proper place are the chiefest glory of 
