320 [Senate 



LETTER FROM DR. DARLINGTON. 



Westchester, PeJinsylvania^JVovemher 22, 184:4:. 



Dear Sir : — Yours of the 6th inst., requesting such information 

 as I possess, on the subject of Hedges, (to be communicated to Mr. 

 Bateham, editor of the New Genesee Farmer,) was duly received, 

 but various causes have prevented an earlier reply : and even now, I 

 can only send you such desultory remarks as my own experience and 

 observation may enable me to furnish, in a hasty letter. 



It is about twenty-one years since I commenced planting hedges on 

 my small farm, — though there are a few hedges, in this county, more 

 than forty years old. The thorn generally used here, for that purpose, 

 is the Crates gus cor data — the maple leaved, or Washington Thorn, as it 

 is commonly called in this vicinity, — from the circumstance of its 

 having been introduced here, from the neighborhood of Washington 

 city. This thorn makes a very pretty hedge, when properly man- 

 aged, and it is easily cultivated, in a congenial soil : but it does 

 not seem to be sufficiently rugged and hardy to make a permanent, 

 effective fence. It is apt to die in wet situations, or in low spots 

 where water collects near it ; and it will not thrive on dry, rocky, or 

 sandy banks. I have observed that the red shale, such as occurs in 

 Bucks and Montgomery counties, in this State, and on the northern 

 side of this county, — is particularly unfavorable to its growth. It is, 

 moreover, even in the best situations, subject to a disease, in which 

 the young branches are often covered with a reddish fungous matter, 

 that is always fatal to them. This, however, does not destroy the 

 whole plant; and in the present year, I observe nothing of the dis- 

 ease in my own hedges. But on the whole, the hedges made of this 

 thorn are subject to so many accidents, which cause unsightly and 

 irreparable gaps in them, that our farmers are quite discouraged in the 

 attempt, and have now generally abandoned the culture. In the vi- 

 cinity of villages, especially, (as in my own case,) so many gaps are 

 made in our hedges, while young, by the trespasses of people forcing 

 their way through them, that they are a source of constant vexation ; 

 and I believe will have to be given up. Oxen and feeding cattle, too, 

 often take delight in worrying this kind of hedge, with their horns, 

 until they make gaps and weak places in it. I am now pretty well 

 satisfied, that if there be any shrub which will make an effective 

 hedge, in this region, it is theZCratcegus crus-gaUi — the Cockspur, 

 or Newcastle Thorn ; and even that will require great care in the 

 management, — especially while young. I have seen a few hedges of 

 this thorn, which appeared to be perfect ; and I much regret that I 

 did not employ it on my own farm. I do not, however, approve of 

 the overgrown, scraggy, untrimmed hedges, observable in the vicinity 

 of Newcastle. They take up too much space, and are often imper- 

 fect, from gaps in them. I think this thorn ought to be carefully 

 plashed, and kept neatly trimmed to a moderate size, after the man- 

 ner of the Washington thorn. Some years ago, I saw a complete 

 hedge of the Cockspur Thorn, on the farm of Mr. Simmons, near 

 the Brandywine, a few miles above Wilmington. What its condition 



