FARMERS' REGISTER— ON FENCING, &c. 



339 



fore, he careful to select that which has the least. 

 The Nondescript, Cherokee Rose, the Jiosa Leoni- 

 gesta, of botanists, is used ibr hedi^es in South Ca- 

 rolina and in Georgia, where it has, in some 

 places, succeeded admirably well, when in others 

 it has failed. This failure may have arisen from 

 the unsuitableness of Ihe soil, the want of due care 

 in the course of the planting;- and cultivalinLf it 

 when youn<^; but more particularly, perhaps, from 

 the aptitude of the rose tribe to die when least ex- 

 pected, without our being; able to discover the 

 cause. One of the objections to it is, tl.at as a 

 hedf^e, it covers a great deal of ground, and that 

 . cattle are fond of eating ils young shoots. I have 

 no means of judging whether it would thrive as far 

 north as Virginia. It grows admirably well on 

 the banks of low rich grounds, and wherever the 

 soil is not very poor and dry. It is usually propa- 

 gated by cuttings, which ought to lie planted in 

 the fall, and some say also in the middle of sum- 

 mer. The mode of raising it from seed would pro- 

 bably be preferable where the seed can be procur- 

 ed ; but it is not easy to get it. I have not suc- 

 ceeded well with it, and I am inclined to give the 

 preference to the Mespilus Pijr acanthus, called in 

 Europe, Burning Bush, (not the plant usually 

 so called in this country, which is the Spindle 

 Tree, Enoaimus j^mericanus.) The Mespilus 

 lias very strong and sharp tiiorns, is an evergreen, 

 or nearly so, and has the great advantage of never 

 becoming naked at the bottom, and that its lower 

 branches which grow horizontally, very readily 

 take root. This last property gives it also a de- 

 cided advantage over all the other hedge plants 

 that I know of, except the Cherokee Rose, which 

 is, that in planting the young plants for a hedge, 

 they will be close enough at two feet apart, and 

 even farther, if the ground is tolerably good ; for 

 the lower horizontal branches by being covered 

 with a little earth will readily take root, and com- 

 pletely fill the spaces. Add to this that when the 

 hedge is sufficiently full, two or three of these ho- 

 rizontal branches from each original plant may be 

 layed and covered with a little earth, and taken up 

 the following year, when they will be found to 

 have good roots, and be sufficient to plant a hedge 

 two or three times the length of that from which 

 (hey are taken. It is usually raised from seed 

 which it produces in the utmost abundance. It 

 may also be propagated from cuttmgs planted in a 

 nursery of good soil well prepared, v.-henthey may 

 be removed to their final place of destination. It 

 grows well in all sorts of soil, as far as I have tried 

 it, and, like most other things, it grows best in 

 good land well prepared to receive it. There are 

 many other plants that are used, and still more 

 that may be used for hedges; but I need not enu- 

 merate those best known and in use. A plant that 

 is still too rare to be made into hedges with the 

 probabdity of complete success, is the Maclura 

 y/arantia, Osage Orange. It is very hardy and 

 strong, with very sharp long spines. I am inform- 

 ed that with due pre.autions, and planted in a 

 good soil well })repared, cuttings of it take root 

 very readily. !f so, it may be easily propagated, 

 and may prove very beneficial. 



Hedges are certainly far preferable to wooden 

 fences ; but yet they are liable to many faults, and 

 require very constant attention, and frequent work 

 to keep them safe, and a full protection against the 

 intrusion of cattle, and particularly of hogs. — 



When a farmer intends to do his duly to himself 

 and to his fields by cultivating them properly, and 

 gradually improve them in fertility, it seems to me 

 that it is well worth his while to surround them in 

 a more permanent way than can be done even by a 

 very good hedge. A stone or brick wall may be 

 thought too expensive, and so it is for a field that 

 is yearly deteriorating ; but where the materials 

 are convenient, it would most probably be found 

 in ten or twche years to have been the cheapest. 

 In some countries enclosures are made of earth in 

 a mode called in France " pis-," where I have 

 seen handsome large houses, churches, &c. that 

 had been built of this cheapest of material upwards 

 of two hundred years before. I am informed it is 

 also the practice in many parts of South America 

 (o build walls and houses in pise, and that their 

 strength and durability are almost incredible. The 

 best earth for this kind of v.'ork is that sandy or 

 gravelly soil that contains just enough of clay to 

 make it adhere together when pressed in the hand, 

 so that after a slight pressure the marks of the fin- 

 gers are imprinted in it, and the lump thus press- 

 ed does not iiill to pieces without its being acted 

 upon with some slight blow or latteral pressure. 

 The full description of the manner of building pis^ 

 houses and walls is to be found in one of the vo- 

 lumes of the American Farmer of Baltimore, in 

 Recs' Cyclopjedia, and also in the Cours complet 

 d'Agriculture of the Abbe Rozier. It may pro- 

 bably be also found in several other books. This 

 mode of l)uiiding n)ust not be confounded with 

 what is called mud houses, which are inferior in 

 every respect; for I am satisfied, that a pise house 

 well constructed of good materials, is at least as 

 good, and as strong and durable as one made of 

 brick. There is neither water, nor hay, or straw 

 necessary to be mixed with the soil used ; on the 

 contrary, great precaution ought to be taken not 

 to leave in the earth any vegetable substance at 

 all, not a blade of grass, a straw, or a fibre of root. 

 The reason of this is obvious ; for vegetable sub- 

 stances will in time detay, and will tliereby leave 

 a weak place in the wall, or a want of connection 

 of the earth. Water added to the earth prevents 

 its being well pounded, and, in evaporating, may 

 occasion cracks in the wail. The easiest and cheap- 

 est then is the best, and the earth such as is usually 

 found about a foot or so below the surface, is in the 

 best state possible. As soon as it is dug, it is 

 thrown between two sides of planks forming the 

 niould, which beins: properly secured from spread- 

 ing open, so as to form irregularities in the thick- 

 ness of the wall; this earth then being put into 

 the mould to the thickness of four to six in. hes is 

 Ihcn pounded down with wooden pestles made for 

 the purpose, until they no longer leave a mark on 

 the pounded earth ; more earth is then added, and 

 again pounded, till the mould, which is about three 

 feet broad and ten feet long, is filled to the top, 

 and being loosened, is moved along the line of the 

 wall, when the process of pounding the earth goes 

 on as before, and so on till the wall is made. This 

 is a very imperfect and insufficient account of the 

 manner of describing the building with pis^; but 

 I only meant to give an idea of the thing — for it 

 requires plates to render it fully intelligible. It 

 is, however, very easy, and such as can be done by 

 any negroes under the supei-intendence of an intel- 

 ligent man. A house or wall constructed in this 

 manner, forms one solid mass without joints, and. 



