210 THE YOUNG FARMER'S MANUAL. 



making hedges, in some localities, should be tested with caution, 

 where any doubts are entertained of their success. 



282. In searching for information in regard to hedges in the 

 agricultural journals of the present day, the young farmer will be 

 puzzled, beyond measure, to know what to do in regard to mak 

 ing a hedge of any kind. One article, penned by a man who 

 professes to have been successful in making hedges, will state, in 

 most unequivocal language, that "every farmer may raise 

 hedges." Another writer, of very reliable authority, will assert, 

 with the strongest confidence, that it is by no means practicable for 

 American farmers to make hedges, with a view of enclosing and 

 dividing their fields, which shall be cattle proof. One writer will 

 recommend a certain plant for hedges, with the most confident as 

 surance that it will ultimately be universally adopted for fencing 

 the western prairies, where timber is not abundant, and that such 

 a plant succeeds for hedges remarkably well ; while, on the con 

 trary, another man will declare, most positively, that such a plant 

 can never make a good hedge ; and that he will defy the world 

 to produce a solitary instance where an efficient and impenetrable 

 hedge has been made of that kind of plant. Amid such a con 

 flict of opinions, on a subject apparently so full of doubt and un 

 certainty, the farmer must exercise a little good common sense, 

 and let the bugbears and sharks go to the winds that brought 

 them. 



283. It cannot be denied that there are miles in length of the 

 most efficient and impenetrable hedge, in nearly every State in 

 the Union, through which an American bison could not pass, and 

 which has been produced with but a small degree of expense and 

 care. And, if a few enterprising farmers have succeeded in mak 

 ing a good hedge, the arguments and assertions against hedges, 

 of a man who has failed to produce a good hedge, from utter neglect, 

 or from local causes, should have no influence in deterring the 

 young farmer from making a hedge, if he desires one. 



