HEDGES. 133 



the lateral shoots in the line of the fence will have effectually 

 closed \ip the openings between the plants. 



This hedge has been treated much the same as the buckthorn. 

 The growth of the acacias has not been as uniform and even as 

 of the buckthorns. Besides tlie diversity properly due to the 

 inequalities of the soil, some of the plants have seemed much 

 less free in their starting and growth than others. Moreover, 

 in some seasons certain of the plants have been injuriously 

 affected by the cold of the winter or spring, the twigs having 

 in some instances been killed back nearly to the bodies, thus 

 requiring in those cases a fresh growth of shoots from the 

 trunk, and putting them back a season behind their neighbors ; 

 and finally they have, in spots, been shaded to some extent by 

 trees that have sprung up and been suffered to grow along the 

 roadside, and thereby their growth has been retarded in those 

 places. 



As the result of my limited experience and observation, I 

 apprehend it is practicable to grow a hedge which will make 

 a good and serviceable fence, with either of the plants in ques- 

 tion. The buckthorn is more slender in its growth. It has, 

 properly speaking, no thorns; but in its more advanced age it 

 puts forth hard, stiff spines^ which, standing out in a thick- 

 bottom growth, are calculated to deter any animal from at- 

 tempting to pass through the hedge. It has the advantage 

 of being, so far as I have observed, perfectly hardy. 



The sharp, strong thorns of the acacia — one main thorn and 

 two opposite laterals — render a hedge of this plant, when of 

 suitable growth for a fence, a truly formidable barrier ; and 

 though the acacia cannot be considered as entirely hardy, it 

 is so far hardy that, with proper care in starting the hedge, 

 it may be made to answer the purpose effectually. To this 

 end a liberal reserve of plants should be kept growing and 

 cut back in like manner with those standing in the hedge, so 

 that when one of these, for any cause, drops out or falls greatly 

 behind its neighbors its place may be supplied with one of those 

 of equal age and growth with the body of the hedge, which have 

 been thus reserved and trained. 



As to the time required to rear a hedge to be adequate to 

 serve as a fence, the books speak of three or four years as suffi- 

 cient. That may be so in the rich soil of the West, with the 



