60 My Little Farm 



It is not a question of expense. I can sow a 

 mile of fence with three shillings' worth of furze 

 seed ; and thorn, the most durable hedge of all, 

 is for nothing. Trimming a neglected hedge of 

 thorn some years ago, I cut out and planted a 

 bundle of the best stems, without roots, of course. 

 Everyone of them grew. Next year I had rooted 

 plants for a hundred yards of new hedging ; much 

 better plants, too, than the quicks of nursery 

 commerce from the haw, because many times as 

 strong, and bushing out much more closely from 

 the bottom. I have not space for such minute 

 detail as the intelligent farmer may readily master 

 for himself, but since every Irish farmer I know 

 thinks that my rooting of the thorn stems is 

 impossible, let me show how easy and simple it 

 all is. I cut each stem just below a joint, because, 

 under the soil, a root springs where a branch 

 would start if above. Roots are only another 

 kind of branches, with a somewhat different 

 function. For like reasons, I made the top cut 

 just above another joint. The lengths were 12 

 to 1 8 inches, according to the distance between 

 the joints. Early in February, they were sown in 

 rows, so close that they were nearly touching ; 

 slightly slanted, the top ends level with the surface, 

 and the soil pressed closely down to them. 

 Nothing more, but keep the soil clean while the 

 plants are nursed, and we have as much as we 

 please of thorn hedging. I assume that the pig 

 is not allowed to root out the plot while the plants 

 are fixing themselves to grow. My scheme has 



