748 



FARMERS' REGISTER, 



ing them well wiili earth in the middle, leaving 

 them growing to the stem, and tlieir extremities 

 exposed. Thus they invariably lake root and fill 

 up gaps. Ifthese hedges are cultivated properly, 

 and the land is strong, lliey will lurm an elegant 

 live evergreen fence, in a shorter time, than is 

 necessary to raise a thorn leiice in England, ac- 

 cording to the books. 



But will they keep out hogs 7 I am told by 

 travellers that lew or none ol' the hedges in Eng- 

 land will do so. Yet hedges are both the chief 

 agriculiural ornament, and most valuable im- 

 provement of thai well cultivated country. Bui 

 hogs are not there turned loose by law lo assail 

 them. I do however think that a cedar hedge is 

 far more capable of ibrming a fence against hogs 

 than the thorn, because one, as a tree, will acquire 

 more strength or stubborrnness than the other, a 

 shrub, can ever reach ; and because the cedar is 

 capable of being worked into a closer texture than 

 the thorn. 



Yet the wedge-like snout of the hog, the har- 

 diness of his nature, and the toughness of his hide, 

 certainly exhibits him as a dangerous foe to live 

 fences; and the resources of ringing and yoking 

 lo control his powers and his disposition, ought to 

 be adverted lo, for the sake of an improvement so 

 momentous. These will not shock our prejudices 

 nor violate our habits, and are supported by a con- 

 sideration of weight, far inferior to the importance 

 of hedging ; and yet light as it is, of weight suffi- 

 cient lo justify the rccommmendaiion. If' hedges 

 are not proiecied against hogs, at least four rows 

 of plants, and a double width ol' ridge or bank will 

 be necessary ; there must be a double sized ditch 

 to furnish this earth ; a double portion of land will 

 be occupied by the hedge and ditch ; and more 

 than double labor, owing to the inconvenience 

 arising from great breadth, will be always re- 

 quired to keep the hedge in order. Something less 

 than moieties in all these cases will sutlice for 

 hedges capable of fencing out every other animal, 

 if the legal rights of hogs are only modified, and 

 besides, the narrow hedges will be lar more beau- 

 tiful-[Note F.] 



OUCHARDS. 



In our warm and dry climate, I consider live 

 fences as the matrix for apple orchards. These 

 are the only species of oichards at a distance from 

 cities, capable of producing sufficient profit and 

 comfort, to become a considerable object to a farm- 

 er. Distilling from fruit is precarious, trouble- 

 some, trifling and out of his province. But the 

 apple will furnish some food for his hogs, a luxury 

 for his family in winter, and a healthy liquor for 

 himself and his laborers all the year. Indepen- 

 dent of any surplus of cider he may spare, it is 

 an object of solid profit, and easy acquisition. In 

 the southern slates, the premalure decay and 

 death of apple trees, is the chief obstacle to its at- 

 tainment. And this my experience tells me is 

 generally occasioned by a stroke of the sun on the 

 body of the tree. Hedges in a great variety of 

 positions will afford shelter to trees against this 

 stroke. 



This conclueion has been drawn from many 

 facts, but a single case only shall be elated. Sonic 



years past the following experiment was tried. 

 An area of above an acre was inclosed by a cedai* 

 hedge, in the form of a square, with each side 

 presented to a cardinal point of the compass. 

 Soon alier, a young apple orchard was planted on 

 ihe ouiside around the hedge three feet from if, 

 and at twenty feel distance between the trees. 

 The hedge shaded ihe bodies of the trees when 

 it could do so, and has been lor some years thick 

 and high. Not a single tree has decayed or died 

 on the north or easi side of it, many have on 

 the west, and several on the south ; and the ge- 

 neral ihriliiness of the trees on the north and east 

 aspects, greatly exceeds thai on the two others. 



If the result of ihis experiment can be depend- 

 ed on, for uniting live fences and orchards, the 

 same culture will answer for both, and avast sav- 

 ing of trees, a great accession of comforts and 

 profit, and a useful and ornamental border of roads 

 will ensue. The same experiment tends to re- 

 commend low or short bodies, as some preserva- 

 tive for fruit trees against strokes of ihe sun. 



Next to this cause of the death of apple trees, 

 the residence under, and subsistence upon the 

 bark of the bodies and roots below Ihe surface of 

 the ground, during winter, of the field rat, has 

 been the most common. The remedy against 

 this animal, perhaps the mole, also and probably 

 against the whole lamiiy of insects, is to dig away 

 so much of the earth from the roots near the 

 body, to remain open during the winter, as will 

 make the place too uncomlorlable a residence for 

 them, during that season, in which ihey are most 

 apt lo feed on tlie bark. 



A saving of much time and trouble, and an ac- 

 quisition of sounder trees would result from an 

 easy practice, to which I iiave of late years con- 

 formed. By earthing up the young grafts gradu- 

 ally as they grow, to about six inches above the 

 junction of the slip and the stalk, roots will invari- 

 ably shoot out above this junction, and by cut- 

 ting ofTthe stalk just above it, when the young 

 tree is transplanted, you get rid of ihe defects in 

 its constitution, sometimes occasioned by the ope- 

 ration of engrafting, and what is infinitely more 

 important, ail the scions sprouiing up from its 

 roots, during the whole life of the tree, will be of 

 the true fi-uit, and furnish spontaneously and per- 

 manently healthier orchards, than can be obtained 

 by the labor and art of engrafting. 



Good cider would beanaiional saving of wealth, 

 by expelling foreign liquors ; and ol lile, by expel- 

 ling the use of ardent spirits. The cider counlies 

 of England are said lo exhibit the healthiest po- 

 pulation of the kingdom. Even hard cider would 

 be a useful beverage to our slaves. Reduced lo 

 vinegar it is considered aa a luxury, and allowed 

 lo be wholesome. But the extreme ignorance of 

 mankind in making cider is demonstrated, by an 

 uncertainly whether ihe manufacture shall turn 

 out to be sweet, hard or sour. It often happens 

 that things of most value are not perfected, be- 

 cause perleciion is easily attainable. A thousand 

 times more ingenuity has been expended on steam 

 engines, than would have sufficed litr discovering 

 the best modes of agricullure ; and the art of mak- 

 ing cider is in its infancy, whilst that of making 

 wine has been brought to maturity. Yet the for- 

 mer liquor would furnish infinitely more comfort, 

 at infinitely less expense lo mankind, than the 

 latter, if the art of making it had been equally 

 perfected. 



