THE YOUNG FARMER'S MANUAL. 223 



They are tall, slim, and not half as strong as they would be if 

 they were not half as numerous ; and, more than all else, their 

 lateral branches, if there are any at all, are very slender, and will 

 very soon decay ; whereas, if the plants stood twenty or thirty 

 inches apart, the lateral branches which give the greatest 

 efficiency to a hedge will be large, strong, and not liable to pre 

 mature decay, as in close planting. It is better to have one 

 strong, healthy, lateral branch, than three, or even four branches 

 in the same space, which are slender and liable to decay in con 

 sequence of close planting. Strong, stiff, lateral branches, with 

 the ends clipped off, and having thorns on their sides, are very 

 repulsive things for stock of any kind to plunge into. But when 

 all the sprouts grow erect and slender and smooth, bullocks with 

 very long horns will delight in the fun of thrashing them to the 

 ground. Any one who is well acquainted with the habits of the 

 red" cedar, or the hemlock, or American arbor vitee, will, I doubt 

 not, fully coincide with me, that when planted very close to 

 gether they could not be relied upon for making an efficient and 

 impassable hedge ; but if transplanted at about thirty inches 

 apart, they will make, in some localities, a more efficient and 

 impassable and durable hedge than any other plant which has 

 as yet been successfully cultivated for hedges. Of these three 

 plants last mentioned, the red cedar is most preferable. The 

 honey locust, the yellow locust, the Osage orange, and, in fact, 

 almost every other plant which has been and is now cultivated 

 for hedges, will flourish best when standing nearly or quite soli 

 tary. Therefore, to close this subject, we lay it down as our can 

 did conviction, that all the plants just mentioned will flourish 

 better, be more durable, be stronger, less liable to premature de 

 cay, be trained with less difficulty, make an impassable fence 

 sooner, be kept within the desired limits assigned for the width 

 and height of the hedge, after the hedge is completed, and be 

 grown at a much less expense, and by laborers possessing infe 

 rior skill in the business of hedging, when the plants are set from 

 sixteen to twenty inches apart, in some instances thirty inches, 

 than if they were set from six to twelve inches apart. I have 

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