1861. 



THE ILLINOIS FARMER. 



363 



Live Fencing. 



Mr. C. R. Overman, formerly of Canton, Fulton 

 county, in this State,|butnow of the firm of Over- 

 mann & Mann, of Bloomington, writes to the 

 Rural New Yorker on this subject. 



An article on the subject of "Live Fencing," 

 over the signature of W. M. Beauchamp, I would 

 heartily indorse his sentiments in the abstract ; 

 Lut as he has, sons ceremonie, bayonetted one of 

 our best friends, I feel bound to have him ar- 

 raigned, at least, before the tribunal of public 

 opinion at the West. 



Mr. B., with a sturdy thwack of his potent pen, 

 aflBrms " the Osage Orange will do no more nor no 

 better make a hedge than the prairie rose." Why 

 did heuot teil us on what grounds he condemns it ? 

 He says "a publisher examined over thirty Osage 

 hedges in Illinois and found not more than five or 

 six that could be called an apology for a hedge," 

 etc. Is this conclusive evidence that the Osage 

 is a failure per se 9 



We are much in the habit of looking to the 

 East for light, and we take it hard to have the 

 floodp.ates closed so abruptly, dooming us to 

 grope our way in the dark. It must be confessed 

 we are going astray with rapid strides, and it 

 eeems very cruel in Mr. B. to withhold argument 

 in the premises. We are persistent in error, and 

 wayward — seldom induced to change our course, 

 unless the quicksands and sloughs are pointed 

 out. But to the point. 



The history of live fencing, as a business, dates 

 back in Illiuois some twenty years; the subject of 

 the iirst fair trial was the English Hawthorn — 

 in the hands of competent hedgers from " Brit- 

 ain's Isle." The fairest test, by its most partial 

 friends, resulted in utter failure, and they were 

 forced to the conclusion that the Hawthorn was 

 not the hedge plant, for Illinois at least — and 

 why ? It was found incapable of withstanding 

 the heat and drouth of our summers, and the 

 seasoning winds of winters, however well adapt- 

 ed to the mild and humid climate of England, or 

 even that of New York. Even as an isolated or« 

 namental tree, it grows feebly and thin here. 

 Though its blooms and berries are pretty, we re- 

 gard it, as a hedge plant, with no more favor 

 than we do the "prairie rose" The next ex' 

 periment was tried with the Washington thorn 

 {Craioegus cordata), with only partial success. It 

 adapts itself to the soil and climate, and makes a 

 fine, profuse growth, with sharp thorns and deli- 

 cate leaves; and it also abounds in fragrant 

 white flowers and rei berries ; but to make a 

 hedge sulBciently strong against hogs and unruly 

 cattle, it requires to be plashed, grows rather 

 slowly, takes from six to eight years, with some 

 care to complete the hedge, and after all it is sub- 

 ject, as are all the Hawthorns, to attacks of the 

 borer and the million leaf-eaters. The Buck- 

 thorn (^Khrmr.us catharticus), is very hardy, a pro- 

 fuse grower, and makes a thick, handsome hedge, 

 but from want of thorns it is not sufficiently re- 

 pulsive for outside fences, though we have seen a 

 few good ones. Various other trees and plants 

 have been tried for the purpose, without any suc- 



cess. Hence, as live fencing is, with us, a prime 

 necessity, our research became earnest in quest 

 of a plant for the purpose, which should combine 

 the greatest number of requisite properties ; and 

 when "in the course of human "events "vision- 

 ary men introduced the Madura, ths shout of 

 " Eureka" went up from Prairieland. In brief 

 time it was demonstrated to be suflacient'y thorny 

 and hardy enough for the fcity-third parallel. 

 Moreover, it was found easy to propagate from 

 seed, to transplant with great certainty, to grow 

 rapidly, to repel insects and vermin, aud to bear 

 crowding and cutting to any extent ; and as for 

 durability, it was confidently asserted it would 

 last two hundred years! certain old Texan ran- 

 cheros having tried it, as the boy's father did the 

 crow. 



With marvelous rapidity it spread over Prairie- 

 dcm, and so great was the public confidence in its 

 efiSciency, that some seemed to think all that was 

 necessary was to load an old •♦ scatter gun" with 

 the seed, point it in line of the hedge row, and 

 "touch off." Others procured the plants and 

 carelessly stuck them in the rich, friable soil, and 

 waited with confidence for results, and the only 

 wonder is that such a proportion as five or s^ix in 

 thirty should succeed. Others, who succeeded in 

 getting a "'good stand," and believing it could 

 stand grief, submitted it to severe tes's — pastur- 

 ing it, making a turn row upon it, cutting it down 

 each month to thicken it the first season, and such 

 like " mild punishment." As might have been 

 expected, disappointment was the result, and the 

 project would have been abandoned in despair 

 had it not been for the examples of a few thor- 

 ough, practical men, who, eschewing the doctrine 

 that gocd things are apt to come spontaneously, 

 set about hedging in earnest, and by simple 

 meacs, and a small outlay of care and i atience, 

 succeeded in erecting barriers against br'ndled 

 bull and "prairie rooter" alike. Even in the 

 fr^t round, enough good fences were made to de- 

 monstrate the practicability of hedging with the 

 Osage. The general faith, manifested by works, 

 and hedge fences have become a fixed in^titufion 

 in the rural districts. There are now few neigh- 

 borhoods in the older settled portions of II iuois 

 in which it is not found on almost every farm. In 

 winter it stands like a cordon of brisiling bayo- 

 nets, defying the inroads of the m 'tboad-'rong 

 stock, and in summer its "masked batteries" are 

 alike effective in repelling the onset of pig, bull 

 or bear— in short, anything that comes ij contact 

 with i< s terrible spines. A breachy horse is never 

 known to make a second attempt to pass through 

 or over a tolerable hedge of the Orange. I know 

 of no plant that will better bear crowding and 

 and retain its vitality, and I have to-day exim- 

 ined a hedge so close and thick that a rat would 

 be puzzled to make his way through it. At first, 

 wide planting resulted in more failures than even 

 the neglect and abuse before mentioned, yet many 

 old, ragged rows, which a few years ago promis- 

 ed nothing but nuisances, have been plashed and 

 "coopered up," and by this means are made into 

 impa-sable fences, though imperfect hedges. I 

 only wish your correspondent could examine, 

 with me, the hundreds of miles of good hedges 

 now turned out iu the county of Fulton. I would 



