A person who shall plant a hedge for fencing upon the line of a public highway three rods or more wide, may erect and keep up, for the preservation of such hedge for a period not exceeding six years from the planting thereof, a fence of the kind he may choose, out into the public highway at a distance of four feet from the hedge; and neither the officer, board or body having control of the highways nor any other person shall, within the six-year period, remove, destroy or in any manner injure the fence.
N.J.S. § 4:20-30