65 



but the leaves of the privet clothed the whole surface -with a soft, 

 delicate green. The hedge, Avhich is extensive, is five years old. 



The plants of the privet maj be obtained at very little expense 

 from England, or may be raised from the seed, or from slips, — 

 the better method of the two. The only objection, of which Ave 

 are aware, to the use of this material for hedges, is, that, in cer- 

 tain positions, the plant, though in the main very hardy, is, from 

 some cause, subject to occasional blight or injury. It thrives in 

 almost any soil ; but dry, hot situations are least friendly to its 

 healthy growth and vigor. 



Very fine specimens of buckthorn hedges may be seen in Ded- 

 hara and elsewhere in the County ; but to give a detailed notice 

 of them Avould be impossible Avithin the limits prescribed for this 

 report. The attention of your Committee has been directed par- 

 ticularly to hedges of the arbor vitte, which possess some very 

 decided advantages over all others. They are beautiful through 

 the year. In Avinter, it is true, they lose their decidedly green 

 color and assume a slightly broAvnish tint. But still they are 

 beautiful, Avhile the buckthorn, with the loss of its foliage, loses 

 its whole beauty. There are fcAv objects in ornamental grounds 

 on which the eye lingers with more pleasure than on the thick, 

 massive, and seemingly impenetrable foliage of a Avell cut arbor 

 vitae hedge. 



It is an advantage attending this material, too, that the plants 

 can be readily trained to any height almost one chooses, from that 

 of the common hedge, to fifteen or twenty feet, or more, Avhen a 

 screen of that height is needed to conceal objects unsightlj^ to the 

 eye. Careful and proper clipping, however, is necessary, whetlier 

 the plants stand alone, or are grouped in clusters, or arranged in 

 the line of a hedge, else the branches will grow straggling and 

 lose a great part of their beauty. 



A hedge of arbor A^itse, is, of course, subject to injury from 

 cattle, Avhich must be carefully kept from it. From its delicacy 

 and susceptibility to injury, too, it does not ansAver Avell on the 

 road-side, Avhere passers by are liable thoughtlessly to pluck 

 branches from it, thus making holes, or giving it a ragged appear- 

 ance, from Avhich it may be some years in recovering. 



There is no particular difficulty in rearing an arbor vitae hedge, 

 if it can be secured against depredation from the horns of cattle 



