DECIDUOUS HEDGES. 23 



in no case that I know, presentable as a landscape 

 ornament. Invariably it has become scraggy, gappy 

 and very uneven. Most of the hedges that are 

 retained are evidently pieces, where most of the origi- 

 nal planting has died away. I asked a farmer why 

 he kept a rather disreputable strip in front of his 

 homestead. He answered that, bad as it looked, it 

 hid his yard, which looked worse. It is not impos- 

 sible that a good many others feel like this, and 

 choose the street hedge as a cover for nasty habits. 

 Therefore, I say once more, down with street hedges 

 or street fences, alive or dead. 



There is the common trouble in growing Osage 

 orange and gleditschia that mice will gnaw them in 

 the winter. They frequently girdle a large number 

 of plants in a single season. Where it is desirable 

 to grow a short strip for ornamental purposes, or for 

 landscape use, the intrusion of these rodents can be 

 in part prevented by keeping from about the roots 

 any refuse or grass, and raking away the leaves 

 before winter sets in. Besides this, I would recom- 

 mend in October or November a good mulch of coal 

 ashes. It has been recommended to scatter along 

 the hedge, peas soaked in arsenic to poison the mice. 

 Any ill-smelling stuff is an additional protection. 

 But I believe that coal ashes will always prove the 

 best preventive, while it is at the same time a grand 

 weed killer. There has been a very substantial error 

 about this material in the minds of the people. 

 Because it is in a very small degree a direct fertilizer 

 does not argue that any material may not help roots 

 to take manure from the air. This is exactly the 

 office performed by coal ashes. It lightens clay soil, 



