A CHAPTER ON HEDGES. 



351 





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which, coupled with its general appearance, 1 The Osage Orange, when treated as a 

 gave rise to its popular name. The wood is hedge plant, has many excellent character- 

 full of milky sap, and we have never seen istics. It is robust, vigorous, and long 

 it attacked by any insects. I lived. It sends out a great abundance of 



branches, bears trimming per- 

 fectly well, is most amply provi- 

 ded at all times with- stout 

 thorns, and its bright and glossy 

 foliage gives it a very rich and 

 " .' beautiful appearance. It grows 

 \ well on almost any soil, and 

 ;> makes a powerful and impene- 

 :": trable fence in a verj' short time. 

 -/ Though it will bear rough and 

 ;) severe pruning, and is therefore 

 well adapted for farm fences, yet 

 it must be regularly trimmed 

 '# twice every year, and requires it 



even more imperatively than 

 ' other hedge plants, to prevent 



its sending out strong shoots to 

 disfigure the symmetry of the 

 hedge. 

 The Osage Orange is not yet sufficiently 

 well known to be a cheap plant in the 

 nurseries.* But this is because it is not 

 yet sufficiently in demand. It is easily pro- 

 pagated and will no doubt soon be offered at 

 very moderate rates. 



This propagation is done in two ways ; 

 by the seed, and by the cuttings of roots. 



The seed is produced plentifully by the 

 female trees. There are large bearing trees 

 in the old Landreth and McMahon gardens, 

 near Philadelphia. But it is not difficult 

 now to have resort to those of native growth. 

 We learn that this tree is so common in the 

 neighborhood of Columbus, Hempstead Co., 

 Arkansas, that the seeds may be had there 





Fig-. 82. Fruit of the Osa^,: Orange Tree. 



A great many trials have been made 

 within the last ten years, in various parts of 

 the countr}', with the Osage Orange as a 

 hedge plant. The general result, south of 

 this, has been in the highest degree favora- 

 ble. Many who have failed with all spe- 

 cies of hawthorn, have entire faith in the 

 value of this plant, and we have no longer 

 a doubt that it is destined to become the fa- 

 vorite hedge plant of all that part of the 

 Union lying south and west of the state of 

 New: York.* 



* The Osage Orange is hardy in our own grounds, wliere -we 

 have cultivated it for many years. In New England it will 

 probably be found too tender in winter, though there is an 

 excellent young hedge of it at Belmont Place, the residence 

 of J. P. CusHixG, Esq., near Boston, which we were told the 

 past season, has proved quite hardy. Pruning in hedge form, 

 by checking its luxuriance, will render any partially tender 

 shrubs more hardy It may be safely laid down as a rule, 

 judging from our own observations, that the Osage Orange will 

 succeed perfectly as«i hedge, wherever the Isabella grape will 

 ripen in the open air without shelter or protection. This is a 

 better and safer guide than a reference to parallels of latitude. 



* Messrs. Landreth and Fulton of Philadelphia, have a 

 stock of it for sale at S12 per. 1000. The usual price for Haw- 

 thorns and Buckthorns is $6 per 1000 ; but the latter maybe 

 raised at a cost of not more than S3. 



