DECIDUOUS HEDGES. IQ 



obtained my seed from Kansas, but some of the prod- 

 ucts have more or less of thorn. I have now grow- 

 ing one superb tree which is absolutely thornless. 

 It has the exquisite leaf beauty of the thorny variety, 

 its fine foliage, and is what no other tree is even 

 comparatively, a sifter of the moonbeams, a most 

 elegant tree for night scenery. Apart from the 

 gnawing of mice in the winter, I see no reason why 

 this plant should not be very valuable for hedges on 

 our choicest lawns. It has the most remarkable 

 combination of strength and compact growth with 

 beauty. It is also a very rapid grower, while it en- 

 dures the severest cutting. I am inclined to think 

 the plants should stand at least two feet apart, and 

 a good deal of care be taken to have them of nearly 

 equal vigor of stem and root in planting. Even if 

 it be desired to have the hedge turn back animals, I 

 think we have here a very promising plant. 



Michaux, who was as capital a landscape econo- 

 mist as he was a botanist, called attention to the value 

 of the scrub oak (Quercus ilicifolia), sometimes 

 called the bear oak, as a material at hand in New 

 Jersey, and elsewhere in sandy soils, for hedges. He 

 says: "The presence of this oak is considered an 

 infallible index of a barren soil, and is usually met 

 with on dry, sandy land mingled with gravel. It is 

 too small to be adapted to any use, but near Goshen 

 on the road to New York I observed an attempt to 

 turn it to advantage by planting it about the fields 

 for the purpose of strengthening the fences. Though 

 this experiment seemed to have failed, I believe the 

 bear oak might be usefully adopted in the Northern 

 states for hedges, which might be formed from 



