352 Transactions of the 



a cultivator and hoe until the weeds ceaso to grow. The plants in good 

 soil will make an average growth of from three to four feet the first 

 season. The next Spring, or when one year old, they should be trans- 

 planted in the hedge and cultivated as directed below. 



COST OP SETTING AND CULTIVATING THE PLANTS. 



We are informed that plenty of one year old plants can be obtained 

 now for ten dollars per thousand, or enough to make a mile of hedge for 

 ninety dollars. It will cost about twenty dollars per mile to prepare the 

 soil and the plants, and about fifty dollars to keep in order and cultivate 

 them till they arc three years old. At this age the hedge will turn stock 

 if it has been well cared for and cultivated. This is certainly the cheap- 

 est fence that can be made in this country by over fifty per cent; and 

 when once built, as we remarked before, it will last a life time; while it 

 is well known by every farmer that board fences go to decay here, under 

 the influence of our extremely wet and dry seasons, more rapidly than 

 in almost any other country. For the benefit of those who may desire- 

 to set out hedge fences we give the following directions: 



PREPARATION OF GROUND. 



The osage orange is a very hardy and rapid growing shrub or tree. 

 It is classed, scientifically, with the mulberry, and in many respects is 

 very similar to that plant or tree. It will grow well in most any climate. 

 and will stand great extremes of drought and wet. The usual age for 

 transplanting the plants from the nursery to the hedge is one year. The 

 ground on which they are to be planted should be well and deeply 

 plowed the season before the plants are to be set in it to the width of 

 from eight to ten feet. Then plowed again and subsoiled before planting 

 so as to be completely pulverized. 



SETTING THE PLANTS. 



The plants should be carefully taken from the nursery, without injur- 

 ing the roots, and the tops cut off, say three inches above the roots. A 

 deep furrow having been plowed on a line where the plants are to be set, 

 stretch a cord, with knots tied in it every six inches; then sort the 

 plants into classes so that those of a uniform size may be set together. 

 Set a plant a: each knot in the. cord, pressing the fine dirt compactly 

 about the roots, and leaving about an inch of the stem above the soil. 

 Then cultivate thoroughly, keeping the soil well stirred and weeds down 

 for two or three Summers, allowing the plants to grow naturally with- 

 out pruning. 



PLASHING. 



If the hedge is set in a very rich and deep soil, and grows rapidly, it 

 should be " plashed" the second Spring from planting; but if it does not 

 grow so rapidly, this operation should be dela}-ed until the third Spring; 

 or perhaps a better rule would be. not to plash until the hedge will 

 average six feet high. 



The old system of cutting back every year to within a few inches of 

 the previous year's cutting, in order to make a thick growth from the 

 ground up, has been abandoned by the best hedge growers, and the 



