208 | On Hedges. 
esse 
hedge ; and I wished to find something capable of turn- 
ing back the horned cattle, which I have generally ob- 
served require a stronger hedge than horses, After 
some consideration I concluded to try the seeds of the 
honey locust, ( Gleditsia Triacanthos) and of these in the 
autumn of 1803 I procured a quantity from Richmond 
point, near Philadelphia. The object was to secure 
them, when put in the ground, from my-clandestine 
little enemy, the field mouse ; and supposing the smell 
of sulphur to be obnoxious to it, I steeped the whole 
of the seed, 24 hours in water, with pulverized brim- 
stone. The ground was the edge of a garden, loose 
and tolerably rich. The seed was sown in three rows ; 
on the first of April 1804. The young plants soon made 
their appearance ; and I believe not a seed was lost. 
I took no other care of them than occasionally to weed 
them; but the next spring, conceiving that I could 
spare one row, I reduced the number to two ;. by 
transplanting to another field. ‘The plants thus removed 
throve exceedingly well; though not equal to those 
which were left behind. I regretted this removal ; 
however, the following spring, when I found many of 
the original plants did not put out leaves, and on exa- 
mination I discovered that they had been destroyed by 
the indefatigable mice, by gnawing the roots under 
eround, so that the dead plant came up with a slight 
pull destitute of roots. Fortunately this had not been 
so general as entirely to defeat my plan ; and in the en- 
suing autumn I replaced some of the destroyed stocks ; 
and conceiving that the dead grass and accumulated 
rubbish, along the bottom of the hedge, had allured the 
mice, by affording them.a warm cover, I had it all 
