ON THOllN HEDGES. 



BY M. B. BATEHAM. 

 i(W!fh letters from A. J. Dowaing; Esq , and Drs. Thompson, Darlington and Gibbons.) 



In many portions of this country, timber as a material for fencing, 

 is becoming scarce and expensive ; and indeed in some parts, like the 

 vast prairies of the west, it does not exist ; so that some farmers at 

 least, have a direct pecuniary interest in the question as to what ma- 

 terials are the best for forming live hedges ; even though it may not 

 seem at all important to those who still find it more economical to use 

 timber for fencing. 



Then, too, as a means of rural embellishment^ every one who has 

 the least sense of the beautiful, must feel a desire to encourage the 

 introduction of live hedges into our system of farm economy. Every 

 traveler, or emigrant, on visiting our country for the first time, is 

 struck with the harsh features of our rural landscape scenery in farm- 

 ing districts ; and that, too, where the land has been under cultivation 

 a sufficient length of time to lead one to expect better things. 



Indeed it seems to be generally admitted that nothing can be more 

 opposed to the principles of natural beauty, or more barbarous to the 

 eye of an admirer of landscape scenery, than the crooked rail fences 

 that line most of our road sides, and intersect our fields and meadows. 

 Who that has traveled in a country like England, where their places 

 are supplied by the neat green hedge-rows, has not been painfully 

 impressed with the contrast which our country presented in this re- 

 spect on his return .'' And who is there among us that had his child- 

 hood's home in "' merrie England," has not felt 



V " His heart leap up, as when he was a child," 



at the sight in passing an occasional specimen of trim green hedge in 

 this country 1 



It is this feeling, (together with the knowledge of their utility,) 

 that induces so many English settlers to attempt the introduction and 

 culture of hedges of the European hawthorn. They are fully aware 

 of the difficulties and objections which seem so insurmountable to 

 Americans, namely, that it will require years of care and labor to pro- 

 duce an effective hedge ; still this does not deter them, and it is only 

 after they have become convinced by sad experience, that the plant 

 is not adapted to the climate, that they abandon their attempts : 



