218 THE COMPLETE FARMER 



' After trying several kinds of trees for the purpose of 

 making a hedge without much success, I was induced to try 

 this, which has afforded a most beautiful fence, so much so 

 as to attract the attention of every person who has seen it. 

 It divides my garden, is about three hundred feet in length, 

 the plants set nearly a foot apart, is fixe feet high, and two 

 feet wide at top, which is cut nearly level. It shoots early 

 in the spring, makes a handsome appearance, and continues 

 its verdure till very late in the fall. It has not so much 

 spine as either the English or American hawthorn, but I 

 think sufficient to protect it from cattle. The plant bears 

 the knife or shears remarkably, and makes as close and tight 

 a fence as either of the others, and is not subject to blight, 

 as both of them have been with me. You will observe that 

 Miller speaks of it as not so proper for hedges as the haw- 

 thorn or crab, which may be the case in England, but I can- 

 not agree with him as it respects America.' 



The tree furnishes a large quantity of seed, which rapidly 

 vegetates ; and I make no doubt it can be propagated by 

 cuttings, which mode I shall adopt in the spring. 



We are apprehensive that no species of thorn can be cul- 

 tivated to advantage in New England for the purpose of 

 making hedges, on account principally of the insects which 

 in this part of the country infest that plant. Some, how- 

 ever, prefer the American thorn, {cratcsgus cor data.) A 

 valuable communication relative to the use of this and other 

 plants for live fences, by Benjamin Shurtleff, M. D., may 

 be found in New England Farmer, vol. ix. p. 209. 



Upon consulting Mr. Lowell as to any changes it would 

 be proper to make on the article of hedges, he states that he 

 still gives the preference to the buckthorn, but that the New- 

 castle thorn, grown by John Prince, Esq., is more beautiful, 

 and it bids fair to be as enduring and as free from disease. 

 The rapidity of growth of the buckthorn is in his judgment 

 a full equivalent for the beauty of the other. 



SHEEP. There are a great many varieties of sheep, 

 with differences more or less marked. To give even an 

 abridged account of all the kinds described in foreign publi- 

 cations would require a large volume. In England l;he prin- 

 cipal division of sheep is into the long wool and the short 

 WOOL kinds. Among those bearing long wool are the heices- 



