. 



200 THE YOUNG FARMER'S MANUAL. 



manner, still, during the first season or two, many of them barely 

 live, without growing two inches. 



265. Does the beginner ask, Why not sow the seed where the 

 hedge is to grow ? One reason is, the quicks would not be as 

 well protected from cattle, usually, as if they were in the nursery ; 

 and another reason is, it would not be as practicable to produce 

 a hedge with the quicks of so uniform size and distance apart 

 from planting the seed, as it would to grow them in a nursery, 

 and then transplant them. Were it not for the feet that plants 

 of almost every kind, when produced from the seed sown in 

 drills, will in some places be very vigorous, while others will not 

 grow as rapidly as they ought to in order to keep of a uniform 

 size and height, and were it not also for the failure of some of 

 the seed to grow, and the liability of the quicks to be of unequal 

 distances apart, and to stand not in a line, as they should, it would 

 be as well to sow the seed where the hedge is to be made. It 

 will, as a general rule, be found to be the most convenient, eco 

 nomical, and best, to grow the young plants in a nursery, and 

 transplant them where the hedge is to stand. The soil should be 

 prepared as for carrots or beets, and sowed, with a drill or by 

 hand, in rows from thirty to forty inches apart, to suit the pro 

 prietor. It is best to have them far enough apart to allow a 

 horse and scarifier to pass between them. In clayey soils that 

 are inclined to bake over the seed, the drills should be covered 

 with black dirt or mould, or fine chip manure, tan bark, sawdust, 

 or such like. The seed is usually sown thicker than the quicks 

 should be allowed to stand, and must be thinned out so as to stand 

 from two to three inches apart. Let them be nursed, and 

 the ground kept clean and mellow about them ; and remember, 

 that weeds in some States will grow four times as fast as the 

 young plants, and if not kept down the plants will soon be 

 smothered. 



TAKING UP THE QUICKS. 



266. "WTien the young plants are dug up, if dug with a spade, 

 great care should be exercised by the laborers not to mutilate 



