330 The Ftozm Sap Blight. 



slow grower, has dry tissues, and passed unscathed. The seckel 

 rarely blights. The Bartlett frequently, as also does the " Glout 

 Morceau." Native sorts are less subject to blight than those of 

 foreign introduction. 



We have thrown out these hints with tlie hope that cultivators 

 will make observations when opportunity offers, and compare the 

 results with the above suggestions. 



MACLURA" HEDGE CULTURE. 



By C. R. Overman. 



It is now pretty generally conceded that the Madura (or Osage 

 orange) is capable of being formed into a hedge that will prove 

 an effectual barrier against all stock. It is inferred, from obser- 

 vation and analogical reasoning, that it may possess great dura- 

 tility. It has been demonstrated that with patience, care, and well- 

 directed efforts, a great hedge may be made at a less cost than that of 

 the average of wooden fences, and it will readily be admitted that 

 a hedge, well-thickened and regularly shorn, is an object of sur- 

 passing beauty and gracefulness — an ornament to the farm and 

 lawn. Now, when we consider that the inclosiire system ever has 

 been, and probably ever will be in vogue, all over our vast " ru- 

 ral districts," and that the fencing is, in general, an item of great- 

 er expense than all other improvements of the farm put together, 

 we will not marvel that this new enterprise, promising so fimch, has 

 created such an interest, and diffused itself so suddenly over near- 

 ly every State in the Union. 



Yet, on the other side of the question, a sense of justice com- 

 pels us to notice also the discouraging features of the enterprise, 

 in their present phases, for it must be confessed that there may 

 be seen scattered all over the country, thousands of " specimens" 

 that can never emerge from the condition of a nuisance, (unless 

 speedily extirpated), and it may be fairly estimated that three- 

 fourths of the rows now set will result in failure. It would be 

 easy to " amplify" upon the causes which have led to this general 

 want of success in the new project, but want of time and space 

 forbids the mention, here, of more than two or three of the most 



