196 THE YOUNG FARMER'S MANUAL. 



years, and be twice as convenient. A railway gate is always 

 getting off the track, or something else, and the proprietor is 

 always wishing that he had never seen such a vexatious nuisance. 



SECTION 8. HEDGES FOB FENCE. 



" In rural shades, 'mong rural hills and dales, 

 The Osage Thorn supplies the place of rails. 

 The Yellow Locust, with far-reaching roots, 

 Of rapid growth, and thorny, numerous shoots ; 

 Or the Red Cedar, with its ugly arms, 

 Guards safe the way between adjoining farms." EDWARDS. 



260. On the subject of hedges I shall be unusually brief, be 

 cause at the present day many writers, and experimenters, too, of 

 unquestionable authority, pronounce hedges a total failure, while, 

 on the contrary, others, of equally good authority, speak of them 

 in the most approved terms. It cannot be denied that good 

 hedges have been made in A.merica, and that there are now 

 hundreds of miles of hedges which will turn, effectually, every 

 kind of animals that are allowed to have their liberty on the 

 farm. It is granted that there have been very many total fail 

 ures in making hedges, but the cause of failure could not be 

 attributed to the materials employed, but to the manner of arrang 

 ing and disposing them, and to the improper treatment which 

 they received at the time of transplanting, and for a year or two 

 afterwards. The first steps in making a hedge decide the ques 

 tion whether it will ultimately prove a failure or a success. Be 

 cause one man has failed in his attempts to make a hedge, the 

 beginner should not be deterred from exercising his ingenuity 

 and skill, if he wishes to have a hedge, by endeavoring to pro 

 duce one that will not disappoint his expectations. Hedges 

 require care and protection, and sometimes a little skillful pruning 

 and other treatment, in order to render the plants even, vigorous 

 and strong. There are miles in length of most beautiful hedges, 

 in many of the older States, which have stood for years as an 

 impassable barrier to every animal that it is desirable to turn on 



