DOMESTIC NOTICES. 



295 



yespondent, Professor Turner, which we copy 

 from the Prairie Farrne'-, will be read with inte- 

 rest. Ed. 



" 111 relation to your inquiries about the Osage 

 Oranfre, I know not what to say more than has 

 already been said in the Horticulturist, the Prairie 

 Farmer, the Ohio Cultivator, the San<>amon Jour- 

 nal, and, in short, almost every paper of note that 

 takes any interest in agriculture in the United 

 States. All the writers in all these papers who 

 pretend to know anything about this plant, agree 

 that it is in all respects unrivalled as a hedge plant 

 in quickness of grov/th, the stubbornness and den- 

 sity of its branches and thorns, and the extreme 

 beauty of its foliage, flowers and fruit. They all 

 agree that it will prove perfectly hardy in any 

 climate where the ' Isabella Grape will ripen in the 

 open air.' And there are hedges of it standing in 

 states from the latitude of Boston to the mouth of 

 the Rio Grande 



" Hundreds of rods of it have been put out in 

 Ohio, even amid their dense forests of timber, and 

 it is doing first rate. There are pieces of it in this 

 state and in Missouri, quite to the north of us, 

 which are doing finely. I liave had the plants on 

 my ground ten years, and have them now of almost 

 all ages and sizes, from ten years old to one month. 



" I have one piece of hedge three years old next 

 fall, that will turn any stock I have, from the 

 smallest chicken, or rabbit, to the horse and ox. 

 I have received letie 's on the subject from all parts 

 of the Union, and have not received one unfavorable 

 account from any one who has made a proper trial, 

 with plants raised from the seeds in this climate. 

 In some one or two instances, plants brought from 

 the south, or allowed to freeze the first winter, 

 have been injured afterwards, as of course might 

 have been expected. I have some tv.'o or three 

 miles of hedge put around m}' pet farm and or- 

 chard, and have this spring enclosed my house lot 

 of four acres on College Hill. In transplanting 

 thousands of plants this spring, I have had to re- 

 place only three. All who have seen my hedges 

 intend to get them next spring ; especially the 

 English, who were accustomed to hedges in the 

 old country, are quite taken with it. They say 

 there is nothing in England that can be compared 

 to it as a hedge plant. The desire to get it here is 

 great I shall go next week and break eighteen 

 or twenty miles of new prairie around some lands 

 in Haverly, for which we shall prepare )ilants, and 

 set them ne\t syiring without any jirotection. About 

 six miles of this fence belongs to me. and the rest 

 to others. I have agreed to guarantee all the 

 plants, if set according to my directions. We ex- 

 pect at least to double the value of our lands by 

 this operation in three years. I have an applica- 

 tion from another man to put out eleven miles for 

 him in the same way. Another thinks he shall 

 want two hundred miles, as indeed he will, if he 

 fences all his lands- 



" As to its cost : it will not cost more than 25 to 

 50 cents per rod, to make the best hedge in the 

 whole world for all farming purposes — according 

 to the kind of fence made. For one kind it will 

 take 1,000 plants, and from that to 2,500 for every 

 eighty rods offence. And had 1 the time, I would 



agree to fence the whole Mississippi valley for 25 

 cents per rod of one kind, and 50 cents per rod of 

 the other kind of hedge, all complete and all cost 

 included, and to perfect the whole in three, or at 

 most four, years from the time the plants were set 

 in the hedge. I find by experience that a mile of 

 fence can be set much easier and quicker than I had 

 supposed. My Englishman, with a boy to put iu 

 the plants, set fifty rods per day, after the plants 

 were prepared, vv^hich the nurseryman ought al- 

 ways to do before he sells. But there is a right 

 and a wrong way, after all, in this as well as in 

 other matters ; and all those foolish methods of 

 sowing the seeds in the hedge row, trimming at 

 two years old — setting out little, feeble, ill-assorted 

 plants, &c. &c., will prove worse than nothing. 



" On the whole, my advice to you is to prepare 

 as much ground as you can — select sjood plants, 

 and, if possible, put your farm all under this fence 

 next spring. Before that time, I shall write a 

 pamphlet, giving specific instructions for setting, 

 cultivating and trimming the hedge until it is com- 

 plete, or three years old ; or if not, I will keep you 

 and your friends duly informed as far as needful ; 

 so you need not have any fears but you will get a 

 first rate hedge, which will double the value of 

 every acre of land you put it around. Plants will 

 probably be cheaper next spring than they will be 

 again for ten years. The demand will increase 

 every year, and but few hereafter will raise them 

 at the prices they will probably bring next spring ; 

 besides the comfort anrl convenience of having all 

 your stock and fruit of all kinds entirely secure 

 from all depredators and thieves, is too great to 

 be postponed without a better reason than a proba- 

 ble cost of 25 or 50 cents per rod for a fence lasting 

 as time, and beautiful as the fabled walks of the 

 Elysian fields. If you wish any further information 

 on any particular point, I shall at all times be hap- 

 py to communicate with vou. /. B. Turner. Il- 

 linois College, June20, 1848." 



Errata. — In Notes of our Foreign Correspond- 

 ent, in our last No., we find the following errors : 

 For " Ourley." p. 244, read " Ouchi ;" and p. 245, 

 f r " Three Mons," read " Three Moors." 



ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. 

 Fruit Convention. — J. W. B. We regret 



not having had a critical examination of your spe- 

 cimens, (which were not brought forward,) as well 

 as that of several other friends, who were contri- 

 butors. The labor of organizing, canvassing lists 

 of varieties, &.c., at this first meeting, necessarily 

 occupied a large part of the time of those upoa 

 the Fruit committee ; and the fact that the com- 

 mittee were not able to examine new fruits till 

 the afternoon of the third day, (when some of the 

 contributors had left,) rendered this part of their 

 labors less complete than we could have wished. 

 Another year, with the organization complete and 

 in working order, it will be much easier to accom- 

 plish all efficiently. It is, indeed, surprising how 

 much was really done. 



