From the foliage of the hornbeam being luxuriant, and admitting of being clipped, without injury, into any of those forms which the old French garden style required, this tree was formerly much more planted in England than it is at present. It preserves a great portion of its withered leaves through the winter; and, if properly planted as a hedge, it forms an excellent fence. The German husbandman, when he erects a fence of hornbeam, throws up a parapet of earth, with a ditch on each side, and plants his sets (which he raises from layers) in such a manner that every two plants may be brought to intersect each other, in the form of a St. Andrew's cross. In that part where the plants cross, he scrapes off the bark, and bends them closely together with straw. In consequence of this operation the two plants consolidate into a sort of indissoluble knot, and push, from the place of junction, horizontal slanting shoots, which form a living palisado or _chevaux de frise_; so that such a protection may be called a rural fortification. These hedges, being annually and carefully pruned, will, in a few years, become impenetrable in every part. It is not uncommon in Germany, to see the high roads thus guarded for many miles together; and great advantage might be derived from adopting the same plan in many parts of our own kingdom. 243. _The PLANE-TREE_ (Platanus orientalis, Fig. 71) _is distinguished by having broad leaves, each with about five principal divisions, and these subdivided into smaller ones._ By the ancient Greeks and Romans the plane-tree was highly valued, on account of its grateful shade; and the latter were much delighted by training it in such manner as to admit of their sitting beneath its branches. Wherever they built their magnificent colleges for the exercise of youth, in the gymnastic arts, as riding, wrestling, running, leaping, throwing the discus, &c. and where also the gravest philosophers met to converse together and improve their studies, they planted avenues and walks of plane trees for refreshment and shade. Though now frequently planted in parks and pleasure grounds, the sycamore (122) is, in many instances, preferred to it. The plane, though a native of Asia and the southern parts of Europe, is very hardy, grows rapidly, and will flourish in any common soil, and in any aspect. Its _wood_, at a certain age, becomes much veined; and, consequently, is valuable for many kinds of domestic furniture, but particularly for tables. 244. _The CABBAGE-TREE_ (Areca oleracea) _is an American species of palm, which grows to the height of a hundred feet and upwards, and is destitute of leaves until within a few feet of the summit. The leaves, sometimes near twenty feet long, are winged, and the leaflets are entire._