if^gcs.— Jl |nmi«m Mmt 



HE importance of suitable enclosures for farms and gar- 

 dens, as well as for ornament and screens, has long 

 exercised the thoughts of cultivators, and the best has 

 not yet ceased to be a problem that many are seeking to 

 solve. In some sections of this immense country, it is 

 a topic of the first consideration, and well deserving 

 attention. The thorn in most portions of America 

 has been abandoned on account of its diseases and the 

 attacks of insects, and various efforts have been made to 

 find a substitute. Good authorities have recommended 

 from time to time the Osage Orange; this comes tolerably near to possessing all the 

 requisites, but we regret to say it, not all. Efforts are still making by various 

 patriotic individuals, and at length our different sections and climates may find the 

 desideratum. We shall endeavor to impart such information as is now possessed, 

 and in doing this must acknowledge our indebtedness for examples of fine hedges to 

 Mr. William Reid, of Elizabeth town. New Jersey, who possesses^ within his re- 

 markably well kept nurseries specimens of various descriptions, in the highest 

 keeping and beauty. 



An English writer says justly, "As to the beauty of a fine hedge, it is impossible 

 for any one who has not seen it to form an idea ; contrasted with a wooden, or even 

 a brick fence, it is like the land of Canaan compared with the deserts of Arabia." 

 The delay in bringing a hedge to perfection should not discourage the pi'ovideut 

 improver, for it is an everlasting fence, "at least," says Downing, "in any accepta- 

 tion of the words known to our restless and changing countrymen. When once 

 grown, the small trouble of annual trimming costs not a whit more than the average 

 expense of repairs on a wooden fence, while its freshness and verdure are renewed 

 with every vernal return of the flower and the leaf." 



As the hedge grows up, repeated cuttings are necessary, so that a wide bottom 

 may be gained, without which none can be considered either useful or ornamental ; 

 for if broad at the top it retains water and snow to the great injury of the plants. 

 Proper management will remedy most of the evils attendant upon the operation, but 

 in America, with its costly labor and the rush of work at trimming time, farmers 

 are still to be found who will twice or thrice a year go over long hedges with proper 

 care and precaution, to procure a permanent and elegant enclosure. Wood for fences 

 is becoming very scarce, and there are prairie lands where no timber can be had for 

 post and rail or the worm fence, and sections where the land yields no stone for 

 and where ornament is to be considered, hedges are essential. 



