246 TRANSACTIONS OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 



Dr. Wm. Hibbard thought that as licmlock will grow in all parts of the 

 country, and because it sends out strong- horizontal limbs, it would be just 

 the plant that farmers want for hedges. It grows naturally in mountaiu 

 land, but it will flourish on the sands of Long Island, and it must be as 

 good as red cedar for hedges, and that we know has been much used and 

 is excellent. Such a hedge would, on account <>f its protection from winds, 

 add greatly to crops. 



Prof. Mapes thought the propensity of cattle to browse would be fatal 

 to any evergreen hedge. 



Mr. A. S. Fuller thought their propensity' to pitcli into and tear it would 

 be equally fatal. 



Mr. John G. Bergen said that cattle browso all kinds of hedges, but 

 that does not injure all kinds of plants. They rather improve a hedge of 

 apple, pear or quince, though they do not add to their beauty. For shelter, 

 locust hedges has succeeded pretty well. 



Mr. R. H. Williams. — In Rochester I was much pleased with the ever- 

 green hedges. The Norway spruce makes a beautiful hedge. Also in 

 Geneva they are planted as screens to protect fr(jm the winds. 



I believe almost all the trees that flourish in this country will make per- 

 manent fences, and I think it a subject of great importance to know what 

 effect soil and climate have on the hemlock and other hedge plants. 



The Secretary. — Mr. Thomas Bell, Eatontown, New Jersey, has a 

 splendid hedge made of the Osage orange that will turn any kind of stock. 



Mr. Wm. S. Carpenter. — The Osage Orange is not reliable with us 

 for hedges, it is very liable to be winter killed. 



Mr. John G. Bergen. — In moist seasons I have found my crops to grow 

 quite up to the trees, but in dry season they will not grow within twenty 

 feet. Now one word in relation to hedges, I would prefer a field without a 

 tree or hedge for wheat, corn or rye. 



Mr. Solon Robinson said that gentlemen appeared to forget one very im- 

 portant matter in all these recommendations of plants for hedges, which 

 naturally grow to the size of large forest trees. Clip their tops as much as 

 you will, to keep them within reasonable bonds of a fence, still their roots 

 will extend, almost as much as though the tops were of a natural size, 

 and draw their sustenance from the soil, so that you must surrender a 

 strip about forty feet wide to your hedge. Can any farmer afford this ? 

 Then you have been told here to-day that red cedar makes excellent hedge. 

 Is that so ? Let us look at some facts. John Taylor of Caroline County, 

 Virginia, who wrote the first American book upon Agriculture, and who 

 was a very intelligent, progressive farmer, thought he had discovered the 

 very plant for fencing in the red cedar, and planting it extensively in 

 hed«-e-i"ows, and induced many others to plant also. That might have 

 been fifty or sixty years ago. What is the condition of these fences now? 

 It is such that any neat farmer would readily be at the expense of digging up 

 and burning every tree. The experiment of hedging with cedar has proved 

 its utter unfitness. It has been necessary to dig ditches upon both sides 

 •where the land was cultivated, on account of the spread of the roots, and 

 the tops have required eternal vigilance to prevent them from overtopping 

 all cultivated plants. The same result will be reached by whoever tries to 



