Madura, Hedge Culture. 



331 



prominent, namely, want of requisite information, inexperience, and 

 general negligence. In the hope of correcting some of the most com- 

 mon errors in hedge 

 raising, I propose to 

 lay before your read- 

 ers a succinct view of 

 the whole process of 

 hedge culture, and 

 also a glance at the 

 history and properties 

 of the plant. 



It may be well first 

 to promise, that though 

 the science of hedge 

 culture is simple and 

 easily understood, yet, 

 to make a complete 

 hedge is a very partic- 

 ular business, and it re- 

 quires the strict ob- 

 servance of certain con- 

 ditions, which cannot 

 be dispensed with- 

 The following remarks 

 and suggestions on 

 the subject are de- 

 duced from observation, and the close application for a series of 

 years to the hedging business. 



The Madura is found in its wild state in Texas and some other 

 parts of the southwest. In Farming County, Texas, it abounds 

 in considerable forests along the small streams, in some places 

 forming almost impenetrable thickets, and growing thirty feet 

 high, or more. Its leaf is medium in size, oval, acuminate, and 

 of a bright, clear green. The buds on the young shoots are nu- 

 merous, and from the base of each projects a sharp, tough, and 

 elastic thorn, from three-fourths of an inch to one and a fourth 

 inches in length. These thorns remain on the branches for years. 

 The wood of the Madura is very hard, and extremely durable. 

 The grain of it is very fine, and susceptible of the finest polish ; 



BRANCH OF MACLUBA. 



