534 MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE. 



as though you were riding through one vast farm, no perceptible divisions of 

 property being visil)le. Lucern, clover, Sec, are grown in large quantities, and 

 fed to the cattle in the yard adjoining the barn or stable. 



Wo doubt the chief cause of the depressed stale of Agriculture in the United 

 States, is owing to the extensive system of fencing, which, amounting to a 

 heavy annual tax, consumes the best proportion of tlie farmers' profits. Mr. 

 Biddle, a few years since, in an address before the Philadelphia Agricultural So- 

 ciety, stated that the cost of the fences ni Pennsylvania amounted to §100,000,000, 

 and their annual expense he estimated at $10,000,000. A distinguished writer 

 on National AVealth says: "Strange as it may seem, the greatest investment in 

 this country, the most costly production of human industry, is the common fences 

 which inclose and divide the fields. No man dreams that when comjiared to 

 the outlay of these unpretending monuments of human art, our cities and our 

 towns, with all their wealth, are left far behind. In many places the fences 

 have cost more than the fences and farms are worth. It is this enormous bur- 

 den which keeps down the agricultural interest of this country, causing an 

 untold expenditure, besides the loss of the land the fences occupy." 



Estimating a chestnut post-and-rail fence to last 18 years, and including inside 

 fencing and repairs, the annnal tax to the farmer holding 150 acres will be S130 

 to $140, and judging from present appearances, this tax is eternal, and there 

 seems but little hope of escape from it. Now, if we must have hedges, why 

 not adopt the live hedge ; for at last a plant has been found which possesses none 

 of the objections to which all other plants hitherto tried in this country have 

 been found liable. The plant in question is the Osage Orange, now extensively 

 used in the neighborhood of Philadelphia, where it has proved eminently fitted 

 for the purpose. It is perfectly hardy south of New- York, growing rapidly and 

 forming a beautiful, impregnable hedge, in five years ; it is also free from the 

 attacks of all insects as well as animals. Double rows form the best hedge, 

 though many of those about Pbiladelphia are planted in single rows. At $12 50 

 per 1,000 plants, it would cost somewhere about $375 to fence the exterior of a 

 farm of 150 acres ; and this, you will recollect, never has to be renewed. The two 

 annual trimmings it requires will, of course, take some time, but nothing in 

 comparison to the time and expense required in repairing a fence of timber. 

 But it is unnecessary to go to the expense of purchasing all ihc plants required : 

 by procuring 1,000, or a quart or two of seed, and planting them in a rich 

 nursery, cultivating them for a year, they then may be laken up, (to set where 

 the hedge is to be formed,) and the trimmings afl'orded by the roots, by proper 

 planting, will afford another lot of plants, and these, when large enough to set 

 out, will afford more cuttings from the roots ; and thus, by beginning with a few 

 plants, one may fence any number of acres he desires. 



These remarks have been hastily written, not so much with a view to pub- 

 lication, but rather to call your attention to a subject which, whether resolving 

 itself into the question of doing away with all fences or adojuing the live hedge in 

 place of the rail fence, is of great importance to the agricultural interest. 



A SUBSCUIBER. 



GOVERNOR WRIGHT: 



HIS ADDRESS TO BK DELIVF.RED BEFORE THE NEW-YORK STATE AGRICLT.TLRAL SOCIET?. 



We rejoice to see that Govemor Wright has consented to deliver the next Annual 

 Address, not knowing nn whom we could more safely roly lor a strenuous maintenance of 

 the preference to which Agricultui'e is entitled, as far as legislation is brought to bear for 

 the promotion of any of our industrial pursuits. 



We doubt not we shall hear him dwell on its claims to be considered an intellectual em- 

 ployment, to be rendered, like other j)rol"essions, more dignified and profitable in proportion 

 as it is conducted with an understanding of llie principles which, in ils very nature, belong 

 to it, and that lie will insist and enlarge oti the right of the agricultuial connnunity to have 

 a just proportion of their contributions to the supi)ort of Govennnent and other educational 

 institutions so appropriated as to promote, especially, a better knowledge of the arts of cuiti 



vation an<l the lights of the landed interest. 

 (105J) 



