(i dis] 
a 
Relative to Hedges. By Paul Cooper. 
Read December 13th, 1808. 
Woodbury, N. J. August 4th, 1808. 
Esteemed Friend, 
At thy request I have made some additional remarks 
on Hedges.—I was surprised to see in the transactions 
of your society, the apple tree, and the walnut recom- 
mended for live fences: such plants as are easily propa- 
gated from cuttings must be preferred, I have found it 
difficult to get the walnut to live one year after setting 
out, the sweet gum or linn, grows fast, bears plashing 
very well, is very easily cultivated, and makes a suffici- 
ent fence in a few years. The sour gum in low land will 
also in a few years make a very good fence: the white 
mulberry, the button wood or plane tree,* grows rapidly, 
is easily propagated from cuttings, or seeds, and makes 
excellent fire wood equal to hickory ; this is important 
to have growing, and to get fire wood out of our fence 
from time to time; in some situations and soils the 
thorn may not be injured by insects, I would however 
by all means make the trial. I find in some parts of my 
farm the thorn grows very well, plants set out in 1802 
by properly cutting the tops from year to year in order 
to produce a sufficiency of horizontal shoots, were in. 
1807 a sufficient and handsome fence without plash- 
ing. In other parts of the same farm, I should not have 
a fence in twenty years of the thorn, but in this last soz 
eee nce SE 
* Platanus occidentalis. L. 
