F O R E S T - T R E E S. 217 



(which by the bye imift be no fmall violence done them at 

 an advanced age) I am at a lofs to find out a reafbn 

 why, having been cultivated fo as to give them ten times 

 the number of roots they poiTibly can have in their wild ftatc, 

 without wounding them, the common deftrucIHiion of old trees, 

 and brought them to fuch a proportion of body as thofe roots 

 will keep fufficiently fteady ; I fay, thefe circumfhances con- 

 fidered, from what foundation can a doubt arife, that Thorn- 

 hedges immediately fencible will not fucceed? Strange, that 

 in a country which boafls of abounding with the befl gardeners 

 in Europe, fuch fimple effays of their art (and which could not 

 fail of anfwering the intention) fliould not be frequently executed 

 for the benefit of fuch as are willing to beftow a little more than 

 common expence, and chufe (if I may be allowed the exprefiion) 

 to overtake time, or at any rate to repair what has been loft, by 

 the immediate poffefiion of what, to a fober virtuous mind, is 

 among ft the moft agreeable and rational enjoyments ! 



I CANNOT leave this lubjecl, without taking notice of, and 

 warning againft the baneful pradlice cf almoft univerfally clip- 

 ping our hedges thick, and broader at top than bottom. This, 

 in my time, has rendered of little benefit the greateft part of 

 the fences within my knowledge, which, properly trained, would 

 have been the liigheft ornament, and moft folid improvement 

 our fields are capable of receiving. How a pra6lice fo glaiiiigly 

 oppofite to nature, and even common fenfe, fliould be adopted 

 in a country devoted both to the ftudy and pradllce of planting, 

 is ftrange to imagine ! but unluckily it requires no proof that 

 fuch is the cafe. The under parts of the hedges fo trained, are 

 quite deprived of the benefit of the rains and dev^s, thefe indii- 



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