Proceedings of the Farmehs' Club. 509 



The seed should be one inch apart in the row. The plants 

 should be taken up in the fall, either with a sharp plow or a spade, 

 tied in bundles of one hundred and placed in the cellar, with 

 layers of earth, or put in pits like potatoes and covered from frost. 

 They should be sorted in two grades, so that each size can be set 

 together. The very poor plants should be thrown away, A 

 bushel of seed will make from 60,000 to 100,000 plants. 



The hedge roiv. — A border twenty feet wide should be plowed, 

 fii'st outward, so as to leave a dead furrow where the hedge is to 

 stand. This furrow should be stirred as deep as possible, then 

 give it at least two plowings to the center so that it will be slightly 

 ridged with a deep mellow bed in the center. Harrow thoroughly. 

 It is now ready for the plants. Stretch a line where the hedge is 

 to stand, cut the tops from the plants to within two inches of the 

 ground which will leave the plant about eight inches long, the 

 root being six inches. The best tool to set with is a round-pointed 

 steel dibble. With this make a hole, set in the plants with the 

 left hand, and then thrust in the dibble near the plant and press 

 the earth to it, A good hand will set three thousand plants a day 

 in this way. You can use a spade or a sharp stick, but this dibble 

 will save its costs in two days' work. One thousand plants set 

 eight inches apart will make forty rods of fence. One thousand 

 plants set twenty inches apart will make sixty rods of fence. 



Culture. — The first summer the plants must have good culture. 

 The plow and double shovel should be freely used so as to give a 

 good growth. Keep all weeds down, and, when the growth is 

 arrested in the fall, turn a heavy furrow against both sides of the 

 hedge to prevent heaving out or winter killing by water settling 

 about the plants. The second year they will require good culture. 

 In all this time they are not to be cut or trimmed in the least, 

 and if they have made a good growi;h, will be five or six feet high. 



The fourth spring the plants can be cut a trifle more than half 

 oflf, one foot from the ground, and bent down in the direction of 

 the hedge. They should be pressed down as close as possible to 

 the ground, 



Tliey are left to grow up from their now prostrate position, and 

 will be so thoroughly matted together that nothing can get through 

 them. By the above course, hedges can be made in four years from 

 the seed, so strong that no domestic animal can go through them. 

 With a thorough preparation of the soil and good plants, there 

 need be few if any failures, and if there should, the fault can be 



