Scraps from My Note Book. — No. 2. 



[New York American Agriculturist, 5:90-91; Mar., 1846] 



[January ?, 1846] 



The Cherokee Rose^ Hedge. — South of Natchez, for 

 miles, I rode between continuous lines of hedges of the 

 "Cherokee, or nondescript rose," then, March 1st, in full 

 bloom, of pure white fragrant flowers, single, with bright 

 yellow centres, and rich bright green foliage, that gave 

 the whole a most lovely appearance; but the beauty of 

 the scene was greatly marred by the fact that blossoms 

 and foliage could not disguise that the whole was in a 

 most slovenly state of keeping; for the long straggling 

 runners have grown up some ten feet high, and bend over 

 upon each side, till the fence is often 25 or 30 feet wide, 

 and owing to the hardness and sharpness of the briars, 

 is as impenetrable as a stone wall for all kinds of stock, 

 negroes included. 



Dr. Phillips^ and Mr. Affleck,^ who were my travelling 

 companions, assured me that a good fence could be made 

 in four years from the cuttings of this plant, and that by 

 proper attention every year, it can be kept within reason- 

 able bounds. I did not, however, see an instance where it 

 was. I saw many places where the runners had climbed 

 up some convenient tree at least thirty feet. 



To get a fence started is a very easy matter, as it is 

 only to take those long runners and cut them up with a 

 hatchet on a block, into slips about a foot long, and lay 

 these in a furrow, with one end out, and tread the earth 

 down tight; it will be a rare thing if they fail to grow. 

 Though, whether from failure to grow, or from being 



^ A Chinese climbing rose (Rosa laevigata). The fragrant white 

 blossom of this plant is the state flower of Georgia. 



'See Solon Robiyison, Pioneer and Agriculturist, l:465n and 

 Index (Indiana Historical Collections, volume 21, Indianapolis, 

 1936). 



"/bid., l:213n and Index. 



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