208 THE YOUNG FARMER'S MANUAL. 



young quicks ; or, if thought best, the stems should all be cut off 

 a few inches from the ground, when new sprouts will spring up, 

 which must be treated like a new hedge until the gap is securely 

 closed. Wherever thin spots occur in a hedge, it is a pretty 

 sure indication that the soil is not as fertile as it should have 

 been made previous to transplanting, or that roots of the quicks 

 were mutilated, or that they did not have an equal chance with 

 the rest of the hedge. 



HEDGES FOR WET GROUNDS. 



279. It is frequently the case, that lands on the borders of 

 rivers and lakes, which are liable to inundation in the spring and 

 in autumn, are so wet that none but aquatic plants would flourish 

 well there. In such localities an impenetrable hedge may be 

 made in a very few years with the branches of the yellow willow, 

 or of any other kind of trees the limbs of which will take root 

 when stuck in the ground. The limbs should all be cut of a 

 uniform length, say five or six feet long, with a saw, as an axe is 

 very liable to split and sliver the ends. The upper ends should 

 be sawed off slanting, for a slanting cut will heal over more 

 readily than a square cut. The lower ends should not be sharp 

 ened by cutting off the wood all around them, because the ends 

 will be very apt to rot as far up as the bark is all taken off, and 

 sometimes farther, endangering the life of the plants. But the 

 sharpening should all be done on one side of the limbs, and then 

 roots will start from the ends, and a portion of the lower ends 

 will not decay. Take the limb in one hand, when it is to be 

 sharpened, and set it on a block, and make a clean slanting cut, 

 only on one side. Limbs that are less than two inches in diame 

 ter should not be sharpened at all, because they will take root 

 all round better than if they were sharpened. Let limbs of a 

 uniform size be planted together, and never stick small ones and 

 large ones indiscriminately together, lest the large ones overgrow 

 the small ones. Let all the branches remain on them for inter 

 lacing, except such as grow on the parts which are to be below 

 the 'surface of the soil. 



