60 
THli Hedgerows of Leicestershire. 
generally adopted. About Waulip there are several long hedgerows 
entirely of Elm ; near Birstal there is a line Yew hedge, and about 
Loughborough there are considerable patches of Maple. Here and 
there about the county we find good Holly hedges, and there is nothing 
more effective for a close evergreen fence ; but its growth is too slow 
for general use. All things considered, nothing beats the old Hawthorn 
either as a close-clipped fence for corn lands or as a tall “ bull-finch,” 
giving shelter to the cattle from sun and storm in pastoral districts. Any¬ 
one who passes along our Hawthorn hedges with his eyes open cannot 
fail to notice the extraordinary variety of form and size among the 
leaves of different bushes. Yet these bushes are all Hawthorn, and do 
not differ much in the appearance of the blossom, though there is con¬ 
siderable variety again in the size and colour of the fruit. These 
varieties are the result of continued hybridisation between two extreme 
and distinct forms, which are regarded by some botanists as separate 
species, by others as varieties only. One of these has two styles, a 
smooth flower-stalk and wedge-shaped shining leaves, and is now 
known as GraUegus oxijacautJioides. The other has one style, hairy 
flower-stalks, and dull pinnatifid or deeply divided leaves, and is 
called GraUegus mouogyua. I have endeavoured to ascertain whether 
one of these forms was in use for hedges earlier than the other, but 
have not succeeded. They do not seem to have been distinguished 
before the beginning of this century. Linnaeus’s name Gratcegus 
Oxgacantha appears to have represented our oxyacanthoides, while 
Ray, although he used the same specific name, seems to have described 
the other form. In Dr. Hunter’s edition of “ Evelyn’s Silva,” published 
in 1776, the description is that of oxyacanthoides while the plate is 
distinctly “ monogyna." In the Leicester Free Library is a fine copy of 
Blackwell’s Herbal, dated 1739, in which the plate of Hawthorn is 
also the form monogyna. The Dutch Botanist, Jacquin, the German 
Willdenow, and the Englishman Sibthorp appear to have recognised 
the two forms as distinct, and to have described them separately 
about the year 1800. In the latest edition of Sowerby’s “English 
Botany” oxyacanthoides is said to be “not very common,” while 
monogyna is described as “ very common, and the form generally 
used for quickset hedges.” 
Now in the hedgerows of Leicestershire there is some indication 
that oxyacanthoides is the older form. It is very rare in hedgerows 
planted during the last fifty years, but is quite common in many old 
“Bullfinches,” especially on the eastern side of the county. It may be, 
that it is the more truly indigenous form in this district of England, 
and that therefore as long as transport was difficult and locomotion 
limited, it was chiefly used here, but that since canals and railways 
have thrown all markets open the other form has been more grown 
in the local nurseries, and imported from distant ones, as being the 
more generally common throughout the country. Probably also it has 
a certain advantage for low close fences since it is a little more rigid 
and thorny than oxyacanthoides. But even our modern hedges 
