as food for Silk-ivorms. 323 



the plants used in their construction have been too feeble in their 

 constitution, and therefore incapable of attaining the necessary 

 size and development. Now it has been confidently asserted, 

 that the maclura will make a most substantial and impervious 

 hedge — a fact which cannot well be doubted by any person who 

 will take the trouble to examine its manner of growth. The 

 branches are thickly set, and the lateral ones almost uniformly 

 take a horizontal direction : they are, moreover, armed with a 

 number of sharp and very rigid spines, which do not disappear, 

 as has been stated, after one or two years, but remain perma- 

 nently. The plants grow with such vigor, that it would only 

 require a few years, under careful treatment, to rear an excellent 

 hedge from the seed. To those who are fond of the ornamental 

 it may be also recommended for the extreme lustre of its fohage 

 and the magnificence of its fruit. 



Hitherto the means of propagating the maclura have been 

 rather Hmited. It grows but indifferently from cuttings, and not 

 with certainty from slips of the roots. The onl}^ mode which 

 can be depended on for extensive increase, is by the seed- These 

 have not often been perfected on this side of the Mississippi, 

 owing partly to the small number of trees which gentlemen have 

 introduced into their grounds ; and also to inattention to the fact 

 that they are dioecious. With a knowledge of this characteristic, 

 there is no difficulty in having them to bear abundantly. There 

 is one growing in my garden, now seven or eight years old, which 

 has matured its fruit for a year or two past, and which would 

 have borne considerably earlier, had not the staminate plant per- 

 ished which was ordered with it. The one which was subse- 

 quently obtained was feeble in its growth, and slow in flowering. 

 Last year the number of seeds it ripened amounted to many 

 thousands. These readily vegetated in the spring, and the seed- 

 lings are now growing in nursery rows, as finely as could be de- 

 sired. 



I regret that I have not been able to compress my remarks 

 into a smaller space ; but, before concluding, I will take the 

 liberty to suggest, to some of our enterprising seedsmen, the pro- 

 priety of obtaining a parcel of the seed of the maclura from its 

 native forests. They may be gathered in any quantity on the 

 Red River, and in the contiguous parts of Arkansas. It is the 

 practice now to compass sea and land to discover a new vegeta- 

 ble for our tables, or a flower for the parterre ; and while the 

 seeds of these productions meet wnth a ready sale, in consequence 

 of the increased taste for horticultural pursuits, it is not to be 

 doubted that a considerable demand will also be found for those 

 of a plant, which combines, in an eminent degree, the useful 

 with the ornamental. Yours, 



Beaverdam, Fa.., 7th mo., 1836. T. S. P. 



