214 THE YOUNG FAKMER'S MANUAL. 



live bark, once in four or five years, or as often as any signs of 

 the borer are discovered, and the bodies of the trees smeared 

 with a daubing made of three parts of pitch or rosin, and one 

 part of tallow, melted together and applied warm with a brush, 

 the borer will be most effectually excluded. 



289. Neither the yellow locust nor honey locust have been 

 tested satisfactorily for hedging purposes. It has been used to a 

 limited extent in a few instances, and there are at the present 

 day many young hedges of both kinds which promise to be in a 

 few years most impenetrable barriers against any kind of stock. 

 I am able to discover no good reason why the locust may not be 

 used most successfully for hedges, with proper treatment and care. 

 It grows quickly even on poor soils ; is easily propagated ; bears ' 

 shearing extremely well ; and is very tenacious of life. The 

 locust will probably succeed better when planted in a single row 

 and plashed, than in two or three rows and trained in a mat 

 hedge. The locust nourishes best solitary ; and when the art of 

 hedge-making shall arrive to greater perfection, the locust will 

 rank among the first plants for hedges. 



290. Both kinds of locust bear seed contained in long pods, 

 which may be gathered late in autumn and kept in a dry apart 

 ment until the succeeding spring, when, to insure their vegeta 

 tion, the seed is put in a vessel of some kind and boiling hot 

 water poured on them while they are stirred lively for a few mo 

 ments, and then allowed to remain in the water for a day and a 

 night, when most of them will be swollen to twice their original 

 size. All such seed is sure to grow if planted in a soil that will 

 produce good corn, and covered about as corn is covered when 

 planted. Those seeds which have not swollen during the opera 

 tion should be treated in the same manner the second time. The 

 object of scalding the seeds is to soften the hard and tough skin 

 which envelops the germ, so that moisture can enter the seed. 

 If the seed is planted as soon as it has arrived to maturity early 

 in autumn, before the skin on them becomes so dry and tough, 

 most of them will vegetate in the succeeding spring, when they 

 may be treated as has been recommended. 



