State Agricultural Society. 351 



THE OSAGE ORANGE. 



Many of the "Western Atlantic States have been, and are still to some 

 extent, laboring under the same difficulty in this respect that we are. 

 Many of tbose States have of late years adopted the system of live or 

 hedge fences, and have found it to possess many advantages over the 

 old system. In the first place a good osage orange hedge fence, the 

 kind most universally adopted, is much cheaper than a rail or board 

 fence, taking into consideration the first cost only. In the next place it 

 costs much less to keep a hedge fence in order and repair than it does 

 either of the other kinds named, and while the latter will last but a few 

 years the former will last a life time and even much longer. The hedge 

 fence on the open, treeless plains, may, after once being fairly and 

 properly started, be allowed to grow up to a considerable bight, ancfthus 

 become a good break-wind and shelter for growing crops or stock. 



To show how popular these fences are becoming in Illinois, for instance, 

 we will state a fact which has been lately brought to our notice. The 

 first osage orange hedge plants were introduced into that State about 

 twenty years since, and for the first three years there were not sold, in 

 the whole State, over five hundred thousand; while in the year eighteen 

 hundred and sixty-eight there were sold and set out into hedges in that 

 State over two hundred and fifty millions of these plants. 



It Avould be well for farmers to look into this question of growing live 

 fences, in this State, very generally. These fences must be generally 

 adopted, or wc must abandon the system of fencing our farms altogether. 

 Lumber is becoming too scarce and dear for fencing material. Wherever 

 the osage orange has been tried, even on the driest of our plains, in 

 Solano County, they have given general satisfaction. There are a number 

 of our nurserymen now engaged in cultivating the plants annually for 

 sale; the principal ones in this part of the State being Fraser & Fisher, 

 of Solano County, and Robert Williamson, of Sacramento. 



HOW TO PROPAGATE THE OSAGE ORANGE FROM SEED. 



Prepare the ground thoroughly by plowing or spading, and pulverise 

 it finely with harrow or rake. To sprout the seed, put it in a vessel and 

 cover with warm, not hot, water. Keep the vessel in a warm place, and 

 change the water once a day. Let the seed soak from five to ten days, 

 after which pour oif the water and cover the vessel with a damp cloth. 

 Keep in a warm room and stir the seed occasionally; in about one week 

 more they will begin to sprout and are ready for planting. 



There are a little over eleven thousand seeds in a quart, and it is safe 

 to calculate that a quart will produce five thousand plants, if it is properly 

 managed. The seed should be planted, in this State, in March or April, 

 according to the season, and in drills eighteen or twenty inches apart, 

 with twelve good seeds to the foot in the drills. If the season should 

 prove very dry, and the seed are not on very moist soil, they will want 

 some irrigation; but if on sandy and moist soil, they will probably not 

 need it. h' the weeds grow freely it may become necessary to hand- 

 weed the rows before the plants will show themselves, as they are vei*y 

 delicate and tender until they get three or four inches high, and require 

 careful culture and a clear entrance into light. When once fairly out of 

 the ground, they will become hard and strong in a few days. 



The rows will now require to be cleaned once or twice a month with 



