PENCSS. 12^ 



places, would be preferable ; and it is very easily made from 

 the shrubby kind of willow that is found growing by the side of 

 many of our streams. 



For making the hedge of the willow, whether in the bank of 

 the ditch, or any other suitable place, stakes of a proper length 

 are to be cut and set a considerable depth in the ground, about 

 a foot apart, and they will take root and grow, and new twigs 

 will sprout out from every part and soon form them into a thick 

 bushy hedge. This, when sufficiently grown, should be manag-- 

 ed as other hedges. The sets may be two or two and a half 

 feet long, when stuck for the hedge. 



The willow hedge is very easily raised from sets or cuttings;^ 

 which readily take root either in the spring or fall. 



When land naturally wet, is situated by the highway, one 

 pretty wide and deep ditch made on the line between the field 

 and highway, witK a hedge of willows on its bank, is preferable 

 to any other fence, and should be commenced by our farmers 

 as soon as practicable, as it would contribute to the double ad- 

 vantage of improving both the field and the road, by drawing 

 off the excess of water, besides making a useful and durable^ 

 fence. 



If the farmer has rail timber in plenty, and prefers using^t,' 

 he will find that posts set on the bank of the ditch, witbnot 

 more than two rails inserted in them, will make a sufiicient 

 fence. The post to be set, would always be much more dura- 

 ble if the end of it to be set in the ground is burnt so as to- 

 make them black. 



The farmer who would object to hedges for fence, because 

 they cannot so soon become efficacious for the purpose, should 

 reflect that it is the duty of the good citizen to direct his labors 

 so as to make the most lasting improvement to his lands ; and 

 that we live as well for posterity as ourselves. 



I have just now been favored with the perusal of Mr. Silli- 

 man's remarks on hedge rows, taken from his tiavels in Eng- 

 land, and made on a personal view of them while in that coun- 

 try. They are, says he, the most perfect fence that can be im- 

 agined, being at once impervious to small animals, and impass- 

 able by large ones ; incapable of being pulled up, overthrown, 

 or disordered, and for many years needing no repairs ; they 

 also form a most beautiful feature in the scenery of the country^ 

 especially when they are filled up by flowers, which is more or 

 less the fact very generally ; the fields are a rich garment, and 

 the hedge rows form the embroidered edge or border. In some 

 instances the hedge rows are placed on mounds or dvkes of 

 earth, which in general woujd form a competent icclosure. oil 



