154 STATE rOMOLOGlCAL SOCIETY. 



scale we need only to look to Scotland iind England and find from their statis- 

 tics the amount of production from a given area of land to be fully convinced 

 of the necessity of having proper fences. This is more especially so where the 

 country is taken up with large farms and is no doubt one of the reasons why 

 farm lands have rented so high in tliat country. 



I am aware tliat there are certain countries in Europe where fencing is not 

 the general order and where a great amount of agricultural produce is raised 

 without this expedient. Eut in all these countries it will be generally found 

 that their farming is done on a scale of what is called ''small holdings" and 

 more in the way of what we would call gardening in this country, and there- 

 fore will by no means apply to farming in the United States. 



In all the many and various hedge fences that I have seen both in this and 

 European countries the prevailinor idea has been to choose a plant with spines 

 and gpray of a dense and shrubby character. In England and Scotland the 

 hawthorn is the plant in greatest request for this purpose, but here the climate 

 is too hot and dry for it, and it has been jrenerallv found to be a failure. 



The Osage orange has been the most extensively planted, and generally the 

 most recommended, as best suited for the hedge plant of this country, espe- 

 cially to the south of the 40th of north latitude. But even in Southern 

 Illinois, and east and west in the same latitude, I have seen a great many fail- 

 ures and wretched specimens of hedging. Tliis, however, I was led to believe 

 was more owing to the want of a proper knowledge of how to grow and keep a 

 hedge than any defect in the plant itself. 



The honey locust has also been a good deal recommended of late by certain 

 parties as being more suitable for the climate of Michigan and other states in 

 the same latitude. But I have a great objection to either of these plants for a 

 hedge as being far too prickly to be handled with ease and comfort, and I pro- 

 pose, therefore, to take a new departure on this hedge question, and choose for 

 this purpose a plant that can be handled without gloves, and with tliis to 

 adopt a somewhat different mode of culture from what has been hitherto the 

 general practice. In order, then, to carry this plan into proper effect, a plant 

 or tree must be chosen that will root readily from cuttings and grow rapidly. 

 Nothing, I find, will meet this end so well as some of our tree willows or pop- 

 lars. The Huntingdon willow, which is grown so much in England as a large 

 tree, would, I have no doubt, answer the end admirably, as would also our own 

 white willow, which was so much talked about and planted for a hedge a few 

 years ago, and tiien pronounced a faihire, having never been cultivated in a 

 proper way, so far as I am aware, to make it a substantial fence. 



The Lombardy poplar, being also a strong grower, and when well established 

 and cut over would send up a vast number of strong shoots and could be easily 

 constructed into a strong hedge fence. 



The first thing, then, in making a hedge of this sort, is to have the ground 

 properly prepared; it ouglit to be in a cultivated state the same as for wheat 

 or corn. I would recommend that this preparation sliould be made in the 

 previous year or in the fall. If the ground is found not to be deep or rich 

 enough, it ought to be made so by drawing a deep furrow with tlie plough, 

 throwing it up to the right and left, and if tiie bottom is still found to be hard 

 and poor some more should bo taken out and a quantity of good rich earth })ut 

 in. The wiiole should then be leveled back over this and made smooth for 

 planting. Having the ground thus prepared, and spring being the best time 

 for planting, the next tiling in order will be to have the plants or cuttings 



