HEDGEROW TREES AND HEDGES 249 
whin fence is apt to be damaged by severe frost, 
and rabbits soon swarm along the hedgerow and 
make it open and of little use as a fence. 
The shape of the hedge is a matter worthy of 
more consideration than it often receives. Thick» 
square-shaped, and narrow upright hedges can 
be very conveniently grown in gardens, home- 
parks, and pleasure-grounds; but with regard to 
field-hedges the form must necessarily be one by 
which effective protection can be secured with 
least outlay for maintenance, and this is best 
attained by a shape varying from a sharp-pointed 
triangle to something of a paraboloid form. In 
high situations, where heavy falls of snow may lie 
for a long time on the hedges, the advantage lies 
in having rather a narrow-based, pointedly wedge- 
shaped outline as the contour of a section; 
whereas in the milder and more sheltered agri- 
cultural districts broad bulging sides, meeting at 
a bluntish apex, make a finer hedge and a better 
fence against cattle. The drawbacks against these 
advantages are the wider growing-space its 
greater breadth requires, and the larger amount 
of attention it demands to maintain it and keep 
it close and trim. 
