TIIREATENED HEDGES.
All the damage was not due to stress of weather. Some of our country hedges are being ravaged with much thorough- ness by emissaries from the market gardens and nurseries. There is a dearth of briars in the country, especially of briars suitable for budding as standard roses. By digging up strong roots of dogrose quite a large amount of money may be made. A good plant is worth as much as 4d., and those who know where to go can collect a good many score within the day. After a week or two the briar-gatherers will be followed by the holly-cutters, with a lorry in attendance ; and the havoc they wreak is the most wholesale, and the traffic the most lucrative ; but the rose is the greater loss to the countryman. Some of the hedges are grossly mauled ; and of all the hedgerow beauties none can compare with tosa canina or even arvensis in its spring and summer and even its autumn beauty.
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