WAY-SIDE HINTS 



of their fields, have set them down under the 

 absurdly ill-founded opinion, that thencefor- 

 ward they would take care of themselves. But 

 the young and tender hedge-plant, like the 

 young growth of corn needs culture. And the 

 man who is too indolent or too short-sighted 

 to bestow it, will surely never reap any con- 

 siderable reward. It is amazing— the short- 

 sightedness which prevails in this regard, not 

 only with respect to hedging, but orcharding, 

 and tree-planting of all kinds. I count it as 

 necessary to the vigorous establishment of a 

 newly-set tree or shrub, that all foreign growth 

 should be kept away from an inclosing circle 

 of from two to four feet radius, as to bestow 

 the like attention upon a hill of corn or of 

 melons. The little fibrous rootlets, such as 

 give nursing to the transplanted stock, are as 

 impatient of any robbery of those sources of 

 sustenance, which find their way through the 

 ground, as the annual plants. We should have 

 heard far less lament in this country over the 

 failure of hedges if there had been more con- 

 siderate treatment of them during the early 

 years of their establishment. 



If this careful nurture be requisite in re- 

 spect to stock from nurseries it is ten-fold 

 more important with respect to young plants 



149 



