26o 



Pawsoii : English Hedgeroivs. 



rows are of the race and of the soil, and that the universal 

 planting- of them has a deeper sig-nificance than appears at first 

 sight. The old saying, that ' an Englishman's house is his 

 castle,' might very well have been extended to his field, which 

 he prefers to regard as his principality. Hence he fortifies his 

 boundary with a strong hedge and admits no man within forty 

 inches of its stake-root. He dislikes to be overlooked also. 

 A Frenchman is content with a line of boundary stones, which 

 shows his marches and yet allows him to plant every foot of his 

 ground, but an Englishman does not hesitate to throw away 

 two or three yards of width on every side of his field for the sake 

 of his privacy. 



The delightful appearance also of a green hedge Is a great 

 attraction to our countrymen. This is with us not a matter of 

 pure utility and convenience, but one of fitness and of beauty. As 

 a race we are fond of the country and of an outdoor life. No 

 people so willingly gives up so large a portion of its garden to 

 flowers and shrubs as the English, whether you take a cottage 

 plot of a few square yards, or the grounds of several acres 

 which may surround a mansion. A German or a Swiss peasant 

 will usually grow only fruits and vegetables, and the vineyards 

 commonly come close under the windows of a French chateau. 

 ' English garden ' is the name w^hich is given generally on the 

 Continent to any part of the public parks which is laid out 

 in lawns and shrubberies and flower-beds. In spite of the 

 reproaches which have been so long heaped upon us, that we 

 are a nation of shopkeepers and money-grubbers, with no 

 politics but those of the Manchester school, I have always 

 been of the opinion that we are all really country gentlemen 

 at heart, and that we are only masquerading in the guise of 

 merchant manufacturers and the like. And what could appeal 

 more strongly to the lover of our island-country than its incom- 

 parable hedgerows, white with May-blossom, sweet with honey- 

 suckle or eglantine, or jewelled with the bright fruits of autumn ? 



For my own part I can hardly regard a hedgerow as artificial ; 

 it seems to me as much a part of Nature as a wood or a heath ; 

 and it has this in common with all things natural, that, while 

 they are perfectly adapted to the useful purpose for w^hich 

 they were designed, they are also exquisitely and superlatively 

 beautiful. For, if one had to plan and contrive some way of 

 growing and displaying our native vegetation to the best advan- 

 tage and at the same time of fostering and encouraging all 

 manner of animal life, birds, mammals, reptiles, bees, butterflies. 



Naturalist, 



