WOODFORD. 1 29 



The pollard oaks spread out like a crown, and 

 formed a good shelter for cattle in hot sunshine or storm. 

 All the twigs in this crown were very often cut and 

 carried home for fuel, when other shoots commonly 

 struck out anew. Sometimes when the hedge had very 

 much widened out at the sides, it was cut right down, 

 and a dead hedge set up instead. After a short time the 

 cut-off stems shot forth a multitude of twigs, which after- 

 wards formed the most beautiful hedge one could desire. 

 A bad habit which I noticed hawthorn, blackberries, 

 and dogroses had, was that they commonly creep with 

 their roots over a wide space, vidt omkring, out 

 towards the arable or meadows, where they had not 

 prevented this by a little ditch close to the hedge. When 

 they had so crept, no one had been with the scythe to 

 the grass which was nearest to the hedge and on its side. 



Besides the manifold uses which these hedges serve, 

 there are among ethers (1), that much wood, skog, 

 which would otherwise be required for fences, gardsel, 

 is by this means saved. (2) The labour of yearly laying 

 down gardesgardar, dead-fences, is avoided [T. I. p. 155] 

 because these, once planted, last for ever. (3) When 

 anyone wishes to cut down an old hedge he has an 

 abundance of fuel, and a new one comes up instead in a 

 little time. (4) The cattle have a very good shelter, 

 skjul OCh skyggd, from them against storms and other 

 bad weather. (5) It is a matchless protection for 

 ploughed fields and meadows, because storms and other 

 cold winds, which otherwise on large open fields, 6pna 

 fait, often thin away and destroy the plants, and cause 

 great damage, are resisted by the hedge. (6) They are 

 an incredible ornament to the country, because wherever 

 one turns his eyes it seems as if the whole country 

 were a beautiful and delightful garden. 



Farther on I shall describe in detail how these hedges 



