296 On Hedges. 



hedge ; and I wished to find something capable of turn- 

 ing back the horned cattle, which I have generally ob- 

 served require a stronger hedge than horses. After 

 some consideration I concluded to try the seeds of the 

 honey locust, fGleditsia TriacanthosJ and of these in the 

 autumn of 1803 I procured a quantity from Richmond 

 point, near Philadelphia. The object was to secure 

 them, when put in the ground, from my clandestine 

 little enemy, the field mouse ; and supposing the smell 

 of sulphur to be obnoxious to it, I steeped the whole 

 of the seed, 24 hours in water, with pulverized brim- 

 stone. The ground was the edge of a garden, loose 

 and tolerably rich. The seed was sown in three rows ; 

 on the first of April 1804. The young plants soon made 

 their appearance ; and I believe not a seed was lost. 

 I took no other care of them than occasionally to weed 

 them ; but the next spring, conceiving that I could 

 spare one row, I reduced the number to two ; by 

 transplanting to another field. The plants thus removed 

 throve exceedingly well ; though not equal to those 

 which were left behind. I regretted this removal ; 

 however, the following spring, when I found many of 

 the original plants did not put out leaves, and on exa- 

 mination I discovered that they had been destroyed by 

 the indefatigable mice, by gnawing the roots under 

 ground, so that the dead plant came up with a slight 

 pull destitute of roots. Fortunately this had not been 

 so general as entirely to defeat my plan ; and in the en- 

 suing autumn I replaced some of the destroyed stocks ; 

 and conceiving that the dead grass and accumulated 

 rubbish, along the bottom of the hedge, had allured the 

 mice, by affording them a warm cover, I had it all 



