1D5 



nearest to our ideal of the requisite — in fact a hedge in many locations be- 

 comes a decidedly ornamental appendage. 



Of the many kinds of trees and shrubs proposed for hedges but few 

 "will adapt themselves to our soil and climate. The Osage Orange will 

 undoubtedly be found the best, should it prove to be hardy, as far north 

 as Wisconsin, of which many doubts are entertained. The next in merit 

 is the Buck Thorn, than which nothing can be superior for a cattle hedge 

 in our climate. It is said to grow and flourish in all kinds of soil, wet or 

 dry, in sunshine or in shade. The great difficulty in making a hedge, 

 usually is, the failure to obtain a thick and compact base ; this trouble is 

 obviated by the use of the Buck-Thorn, as it will bear excessive cutting 

 back and yet shoot again. 



CULTURE OF GRASSES. 



Burke, December 20, 1852. 



Dear Sir: — The honor you have done me, in requesting me to fur- 

 nish you with some remarks on the grasses, merits at once my acknow- 

 ledgements and compliance. The vast grassy plains, of which I had 

 read, became the early objects of my attention, and I could but observe 

 the "base uses" that had been made of the bounteousness of God. 



The grasses, which cover this ample field, are, in my opinion, destroy- 

 ed by the absurd and barbarous practice of burning. The fires that 

 annually devastate this fair field of nature have only one tendency, and 

 no justification, either in science or practice; all that can be said of it 

 is, that the weeds and old grass are consumed, to make way for a fresh 

 spring of grass. But is this the case ? Do not the weeds, as well as the 

 grass, spring again ? and do they not come of inferior growth after each, 

 successive burning ? To take away by fire the products of the earth, is 

 to remove the vegetable matter necessary for the re-organization of the 

 plants, and to substitute a residuum of inorganic remains, whilst the 

 plants, stripped of their natural covering, are left exposed to all the sever- 

 ity of the long winter frosts. I am prepared to prove that these grasses 

 of the prairie are nutritive, more from their quantity, and extent, than 

 from their quality ; and do not, therefore, contend that but for these burn- 

 ings, they would have been luxuriant pastures. Another cause exists for 



