Beech and hornbeam are frequently used for garden and smaller fences, and, when well grown, are really useful as a protection, as their withered leaves are persistent, that is, they do not fall off until new ones are formed. They are grown comparatively quickly, and will flourish in poor light soils, and if strong plants be made to cross each other in planting, they may be trained to form a strong fence. In the second group, the whitethorn (_Cratægus oxyacantha_) stands deservedly at the top of the list; in fact, it is the very best hedge-row plant we possess. It is not slow of growth in congenial soil, especially if well attended to. Its thorns render it thoroughly repellant to cattle. It bears cutting, clipping, and trimming better than any other; and though variable in its behaviour in different soils, it is, after all, capable of bearing a greater diversity in this respect than any other of our list. The whitethorn, then, is deservedly held in the highest repute for the growth of the most perfect live fence for all ordinary farm purposes; the blackthorn, crab, and buckthorn being tolerated only because they possess some of the same characteristics as the whitethorn. As regards the latter, it is exceedingly long-lived, and, if left to itself, forms trees of considerable size, which are occasionally very beautiful as forming part of park scenery; still in hedges it can be kept to any size, and cutting it in causes a new wood to spring up, which has all the characteristics of a young, quick plant. These are merits of the greatest importance in favour of the whitethorn, which will ever make this the best hedge-row plant, as if we succeed to a whitethorn fence, which has been trimmed and kept within due bounds, there is no difficulty in continuing the process; and so if the hedge be left to grow tall and wild it may be cut out either wholly or partially, some stems cut half through—as in the process of _plashing_—laid down, and so a secure though not so tall a fence be formed, that will only grow thicker year by year. Blackthorn—sloe (_Prunus spinosa_) is formidable enough as regards thorns, but it cannot stand the same amount of cutting as the whitethorn, and, when cut, its young shoots being almost thornless, makes a hedge of the sloe the less repellant the more vigorous are its shoots. The crab-apple (_Pyrus malus_) and the buckthorn (_Rhamnus catharticus_) may be considered as accidental in fences; and as, to a great extent, they will grow with the quicks and suffer the same treatment without growing as upstarts on the one hand, or refusing to start again after crippling on the other, they are both tolerated in fences without quite getting a character for being hedgerow weeds. The holly (_Ilex aquifolium_) possesses a wonderful repellant armour in its spinous, evergreen leaves, on which, account it is esteemed as a plant for fences:—