114 THE FLORIST AND 



Such a miscellaneous hedge-row would constitutue a perfect aviary for 

 certain species of birds; and the advantages they would confer upon the far- 

 mer, by ridding his land of noxious insects, would amply compensate for the 

 space thus left unimproved. The farmer seldom raises any crops in this nar- 

 row space ; but like the dog in the manger, he neither uses it himself nor will 

 he leave it to nature and the birds. Once in two or three years, he lets a 

 fire run over it ; or at any expense which is entirely useless to himself, he 

 "Wantonly cuts down every beautiful thing that springs up there to remind 

 him, while employed in the labors of the field, of the primitive charms of na- 

 ture. 



A common hedge-row would employ as much space as this rustic fence, 

 including the plants on each side of it ; and no clipped hedge-row could be 

 made half so beautiful as one formed by this wild thicket of vines and bushes, 

 growing at liberty, and wreathing an endless variety of blossoms and foliage 

 around and over the fence. Then might we hear the notes of the woodsparrow 

 and the yellow throat in the very centre of our villages, and hundreds of 

 little birds of different species would cheer us by their warbling, where at 

 present only an occasional solitary one is seen. From the windows of our 

 dwelling-houses we might also observe the habits of many rare birds that 

 would soon acquire an unwonted familiarity, by having their abodes in the 

 busy neighbourhood of man. 



By thus extending our protection to the birds we make no sacrifice of 

 land, and we lay the foundation for certain contrasts, that must effect every 

 beholder with a pleasing emotion. A happy contrast is one of the most stri- 

 king circumstances either in a landscape or a work of art. Hence rugged 

 hills, rising suddenly out of a level and fertile plain, are more effective than 

 general undulations of surface : and how much soever we may admire a tract 

 of land in a high state of improvement, it is delightful while rambling over it 

 to find a little minature wilderness, or a plat of ground covered with the spon- 

 taneous productions of nature. It is equally pleasing, on the other hand, 

 when we are roaming a forest, where the only birds we hear are the shy and 

 timid thrushes and sylvias, to encounter a little farm in a perfect state of 

 cultivation, and a neat little cottage, surrounded by these familiar birds of 

 our orchards and gardens. These strips of wild vegetation bordering the 

 fences would form a pleasant contrast with the cultivated lands, and the con- 

 trast would be beautiful in proportion to the entire primitive character of the 

 one and the high state of improvement of the other. 



From the earliest period of our history, it has been customary among our 

 people to encourage the multiplication of swallows, by the erection of a bird- 



