Growth of Thorns, ^c. 289 



large prickles, of vigorous growth, or possessing any 

 other qiiahfication requisite to make a good fence, he 

 may propagate it far better and sooner, from roots, thaa 

 any other way. Secondly, in three years he may raise 

 from roots a better plant, than can in six years be raised 

 from haws, and with double the quantity of roots. It 

 %vould not be a bad way, in order to get roots, to plant 

 a hedge in any convenient place, and on each side to 

 trench the ground two yards wide, and two grafts deep; 

 from which, ever}^ two or three years, a large quantity 

 of roots might be obtained, by trenching the ground' 

 over again and cutting away what roots were found, 

 which would all be young and of a proper thickness." 

 As I knew that Mr. Kirk of Brandywine, had com- 

 menced a thorn fence on his farm, I sent him Mr. Tay- 

 lor's publication, with the expectation, that the infor- 

 mation contained in it, would shorten his labour. The 

 next time I saw him, he told me, that the fact of the 

 vegetation of the thorn root cuttings was not new to him, 

 having been informed of it by his neighbour Mr. Ar- 

 mor, who had discovered it, when trimming the roots 

 of some old thorns v/hich he was about to transplant. 

 Those cuttings being thrown carelessly under some 

 earth, began to grow vigorously, and many of the plants 

 were set out. He observed that those which were 

 placed on the south side of a rail fence, did not succeed 

 so well as those set on the north side, owing to the ^eat 

 heat reflected from the rails. Neither Mr. Armor nor 

 Mr. Kirk however, follow the practice of propagating 

 thorns in this way, as a particular species of thorn (cratce- 



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