AN EXPERIMENT ^YITH THE OSAGE ORANGE. 



greater or less, of course, according to tbe depth of fresh soil ; it is better that 

 the tree should stand slightly elevated, rather than appear lower than the sur- 

 rounding surface. 



The summer treatment of ne\Yly-planted trees requires notice. It is well known 

 that after a continuation of dry weather, all crops, and trees of large size, are 

 checked in growth. When such results are visible upon well-rooted trees, it is 

 evident that recently planted ones must suffer a still greater check. To overcome 

 this difficulty, we must first get a supply of moisture in the soil, and then keep 

 it there. Preparing deep holes, and breaking up the subsoil, effect the former, and 

 stirring the surface, or mulching, the latter. It has been well proved that stirring 

 the soil, so as to insure a loose surface, is highly beneficial to all growing crops. 

 Air is admitted to act more perfectly upon the substances from which plants 

 derive their nourishment ; and, in dry weather, the escape of moisture is pre- 

 vented ; the loose soil acts as a mulching. "Where the surface is compact, the 

 sun's rays dry the ground to a greater depth than they do where it is loose. 

 When the particles of the soil are in close contact, the uppermost, parched by the 

 sun, extract humidity from those immediately under them ; and these again from 

 others still lower. On the contrary, when the surface is loose and well pulverized, 

 it may lose its moisture rapidly and become dry ; yet, from imperfect cohesion 

 with the inferior portion, the latter cannot readily communicate its moisture. 

 The loose surface soil having its pores filled with air, becomes an interposing 

 medium which protects the under stratum from the drying effects of the sun's 

 rays. 



It is not only in dry weather that a compact surface is injurious. All the rain 

 which falls during summer is fully required for the growth of vegetation, and, 

 perhaps, would be found amply sufficient, provided the ground was properly 

 trenched and drained. But when the surface is compact, and haked into a hard 

 crust, the rains escape without penetrating to any useful depth into the soil. A 

 loose surface is, therefore, one of the most efficient preventives of evaporation, 

 and the simplest and cheapest kind of mulching that can be used. 



AN EXPERIMENT WITH THE OSAGE ORANGE. 



BY J. E. ALEXANDER, WASHINGTON, OHIO. 



The hedge value of the Osage Orange must be ascertained from actual experi- 

 ments. Believing that a collection and comparison of facts already discovered 

 would go far to settle the question, I will venture to add a modicum from my own 

 ience to what has been said in your practical and useful journal. One hu 

 and fifty yards of hedge were planted in double rows with the plant 



