THE YOUNG FARMER'S MANUAL. 221 



from the hedge row. When only a narrow strip of two feet or 

 so on each side is scratched over occasionally, it would be no 

 more beneficial, in many localities, than if the soil were not 

 broken at all. On prairies and bottom lands, where the soil is 

 deep, always mellow, and fertile, preparing the soil as recom 

 mended in paragraph 261 is not so very important as on stub 

 born, clayey and calcareous soils, in which localities the directions 

 should be followed up to the very letter. 



299. I have never, as yet, met with any writings in which it 

 was recommended to transplant the quicks as suggested in par. 

 268. The more usual practice is to dibble them in with a kind 

 of paddle, or to thrust in a spade where a quick is to be set, and, 

 thrusting the handle forward, the quick is set behind the spade in 

 a wedge-shaped hole, without any spreading of the roots. But 

 it seems to me that, if it would pay in transplanting fruit-trees, 

 which none will deny, to spread out the roots, it would be time 

 profitably spent in transplanting the quicks for a hedge in the 

 most workmanlike manner. According to the modus operandi 

 in par. 268, a long line of hedge could be put out in a day by a 

 faithful laborer and a small lad ; and in such soil as we find, for 

 the most part, in central and western New York, and in some 

 of the New England States, no one who is acquainted with 

 their character, and with the most proper manner of working 

 them, will wish to deny that this is the better mode of trans 

 planting the quicks. It is most certain that the more the roots 

 of a tree or quick are spread out, in transplanting, the better 

 the tree is transplanted ; and the more they are crowded into 

 a small compass, the less liable they are to flourish luxuriantly 

 for the first year or two after transplanting. If a quick has 

 side-roots, nature and common sense teach us that it is better 

 to spread them and extend them in their full length, than to 

 double them and crowd them into a small hole. 



300. The proper distances apart for plants to be set, is a very 

 important question in growing a good hedge. For my own part, 

 I am fully persuaded that hedgers, as a general rule, plant too 

 close. It is a most common fault, in transplanting all kinds of 



