132 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



The buckthorn hedge was set out mostly in 1859, the residue 

 in 1861. The plants were raised from seed sown by myself in 

 1858. When transplanted for the hedge they were set in two 

 parallel rows, the rows being a foot apart, the plants sixteen 

 inches apart in each row, a plant in one row being opposite 

 the middle of the space between two plants in the opposite row. 

 So far as my observation extends, this arrangement for the 

 buckthorn, in respect to the location and distance apart of the 

 plants, is satisfactory, and suited to produce a close, compact 

 and effective hedge. 



The plants when set were cut back to the length of three or 

 four inches above the ground, and planted at about the same 

 depth as they originally grew. If, as happened in very rare 

 instances, a plant failed, another was substituted in its place 

 as soon as the failure was apparent. 



After the hedge was set out no special labor was bestowed 

 upon it, except to keep it hoed and clear of weeds until the 

 plants had come to occupy the ground ; to enrich any spots 

 where the soil was poorer, and the plants consequently weaker, 

 so as to effect a more equal and even growth, and to trim the 

 hedge. The trimming has consisted in cutting the shoots back, 

 once in a year, commonly in the spring, rarely in the autumn, 

 to within two, three or four inches of the last cutting. In this 

 way the hedge has come forward but slowly — which I have 

 regarded of less consequence than the securing eventually of 

 a well-conditioned, effective barrier. I have allowed the plants 

 the unbroken season's growth, under the idea of securing 

 thereby a stronger growth of the roots, and have cut them 

 back thus severely in order to get a thick and close screen at 

 the bottom. I have designed to let the lateral shoots grow so 

 as to make the hedge about two and a half or three feet wide 

 on the ground, and to clip the twigs, on either side, from the 

 bottom, on a curved line, to the ridge. 



The acacia hedge was set out chiefly in 18G3, the rest the suc- 

 ceeding year. The plants were raised from seed sown the year 

 previous. This was set in a single line, the plants three feet 

 apart in the row. 1 consider this sufficiently near for thia kind 

 of plant, as it is a strong and vigorous grower ; and by the time 

 the hedge has attained a sufficient growth to serve as a fence 



