MR. DOWNING'S LETTERS FROM ENGLAND. 



one, and has not exactly thorns, but branches which become somewhat thofny and resist- 

 ing. It naturally forms a thicket with a good many branches, so that it takes and keeps 

 the hedge form very easily. He sowed the seeds of these crabs in the garden, and when 

 the seedlings were a year old he transplanted them into the row, where they were to grow 

 as a hedge. They were set six inches apart, in a single row, and the tops were cut off 

 Aviihin three or four inches of the ground the same spring tlicy were planted. They made 

 a fine growth, and the next spring were again cut down to within six inches of the ground. 

 This made the hedge bushy and thick at the bottom. 



The hedge is now live years planted. It has attained its proper size, and having been 

 regularly trimmed every spring, has become one of the thickest and most impenetrable 

 hedges I have ever seen. It requires trimming but once a year, and seems to me well able 

 to take care of itself the rest of the time. Besides this, it has a fine appearance in the 

 spring, when it is covered with blossoms, and in the autumn when it begins to bear consi- 

 derable fruit. Would not the Siberian Crab or its seedlings, make a good farm fence.'* 



The locust has been used by some persons as a farm fence, and it makes a loose barrier 

 very quickly. But it is difficult to keep within bounds, and it is apt to throw up suckers 

 and thus take up the ground wanted for tillage. The Three Thorned Acacia — though it 

 does not sucker, and is abundantly thorny, does not grow thick enough to make a com- 

 plete hedge Avithout a great deal of clipping. 



The Buckthorn has been highly spoken of, and it makes, I believe, a first rate hedge for 

 the garden. But will it answer for the farm, and what is preferable to it? 



Yours, &c. A. D. 



Neu'-York, Jan. 7, 1851. 



Remarks. — We give the preference to the Buckthorn, over any plant j'^et tried, for farm 

 hedges. It will grow in anj^ soil, makes a thick hedge witli verj' little time or labor, needs 

 clipping but once a year, and may be trimmed when the leaves are off, at any time when 

 the farmer has least to do. Besides this, it is less liable to be attacked by disease, insects 

 or vermin, than any other hedge plant in our knowledge, and may be raised from seed as 

 easily as peas. It is a little wanting in thorns when young, but gets stiff enough to turn 

 cattle while it has been sheared three or four years. En. 



MR. DOWNING'S LETTERS FROM ENGLAND. 



I received in London, a note from the Duke op Bedford, which led me, while I was 

 in Bedfordshire, to make a visit to Woburn Abbey. 



This is considered one of the most complete estates and establishments in the kingdom. 

 It is fully equal to Chatsworth, but quite in another way. Chatsworth is semi-continen- 

 tal, or rather it is the concentration of everything that European art can do to embellish 

 and render beautiful a great country residence. Woburn Abbey is thoroughly English; 

 that is, it does not aim at beauty, so much as grandeur of extent and substantial complete- 

 ness, united with the most systematic and thorough administration of the whole. Besides 

 this, it interested me much as the home for exactly f /tree centuries, of a family which has 

 adorned its high station b}'- the highest virtues, and b}' an especial devotion to the inte- 

 rests of the soil.* The present Duke of Bedford is one of the largest and most scientific 



first John Russell, Duke of Behford, came into possession of this estate iii 1549, and it has descended in 

 ly ever since. In one of tlie apartments of the palace is a series of miniature portraits of the heads of the fa- 

 an unbroken line, for 300 years. 



