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appreciation of their advantages, and an increased attention to 

 their culture among ourselves. 



The abundance and cheapness of materials suitable for walls 

 and fences, with other considerations, will long prevent our farms 

 from exhibiting the tasteful appearance of those of the mother 

 country, which have enjoyed the benefits of centuries of culture 

 and improvement. Still we have ornamental grounds, and wealth 

 will seek more and more to diffuse itself over the surface of our 

 soil in creations of beauty as well as of utility. The taste for rural 

 occupations and enjoyment of the pleasant airs of the country, 

 will lead to improvements both attractive to the eye and dear to 

 the affections. There is no reason why the beauty of a green and 

 well cut hedge, taking the place of ugly walls and fences, should 

 be overlooked, and it will not be. Foliage is always beautiful, 

 and the eye seeks it and rests upon it Avith delight. 



In the discharge of the duty assigned them, your Committee 

 have visited the grounds of two gentlemen, — Capt. Daniel C. 

 Baoon, of Jamaica Plain, and C. B. Shaw, Esq., of Dedham. 

 The hedges on these grounds have been all under the care of Mr. 

 Robert Watt, and bear evidence of his peculiar taste and skill. 

 Your Committee took great pleasure in visiting both these places. 

 On both, the hedges exceed the length of one thousand feet, re- 

 quired for a premium. 



The materials used by Capt. Bacon for his hedges, are the 

 buckthorn, the privet or prim, and the arbor vitae. For divis- 

 ion lines between lots, or contiguous grounds, the privet forms a 

 very pretty and graceful hedge. Its small, delicate leaves, often 

 thickly set, are pleasing to the eye, and have the advantage of 

 remaining on the stem and preserving their verdure longer than 

 those of most plants or shrubs. In parts of England the privet is 

 an evergreen, and even here it is not uncommon for branches 

 which lie near the ground, Avhere they are well protected, to re- 

 tain their verdure unimpaired through the winter. In setting the 

 hedge to Avhich we refer, Capt. Bacon used alternately a plant of 

 the privet and one of the buckthorn. But notwithstanding the 

 vigorous and hardy character of the buckthorn, the privet now 

 prevails, and at the time of the visit of your Committee, (the 16th 

 of October,) very httle of the fohage of the buckthorn was visible, 



