=Protection from Rabbits=, etc.—It may seem somewhat absurd to speak of planting coverts, and then to protect them from the depredations of game; but that this is highly necessary for the first two years, at least, is well known to all planters. Few of the shrubs treated of in this paper are exempt from the attacks of hares and rabbits, more especially when in a young state and newly transferred from the nursery; and for this reason it is always found necessary to protect them in some way or other until fairly started into growth and beyond the reach of game. For this purpose wire netting is the cheapest and most effectual preservative with which I am acquainted. The netting should be about 4 ft. in height, not more than 1½ in. mesh, and inserted in the ground 4 in., to prevent rabbits from working underneath. It may be fixed to posts driven firmly into the ground at a distance of 5 ft. apart along the line of fence. This precaution against the depredations of game may not be necessary for all the clumps, but it is especially so for those of laurustinus, barberry, and laurel. For the first two or three years after planting, the shrubs should be kept free of grass and weeds, as this will encourage the plants to start into growth more quickly and thrive much better than they can do if the ground is impoverished and light and air excluded by weeds. CHAPTER XIX HEDGES: THEIR FORMATION AND MANAGEMENT Strictly speaking, hedges are divided into two kinds—useful and ornamental—the former being employed for keeping farm stock in bounds, and the latter in the subdivision of private gardens and for lawn and park purposes generally. Where the fences are intended purely for protective purposes the thorn, beech, hornbeam or holly are the plants usually employed, while for ornamental garden subdivisions almost any shrub may be used, the choice of which will lie with the operator. Amongst all the trees and shrubs that have been found suitable for the climate of Britain, none equals the common whitethorn, or Quick, for hedge-formation, where strength and shelter are points of first consideration. The beech and hornbeam certainly can thrive better on exposed and high-lying ground and where the soil is poor and thin, but neither forms so durable a protection against farm stock as the thorn. When properly treated the thorn is a fast grower, and as a fence plant it is ornamental, smooth, stubborn, and long lived. It is also not at all subject to disease, and is very readily propagated. Few soils come amiss to the thorn—that is, if they are not overcharged with moisture, but it delights in a rich hazelly loam. (1) =Plantation Hedges—Preparation of the Ground and Planting.=—Thorough preparation of the ground where live fences are formed should take precedence of all other operations—indeed, nothing can repay the planter more satisfactorily than the previous suiting of the land, in the way of draining and trenching, to the plants intended to be inserted.