166 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
grows thriftily about San José, where it can be irrigated, but 
hedges are liable to much damage from gophers, which are 
fond of the roots; and if a hole is made, it is difficult to get 
young plants to grow, the older ones choking them down. 
After the third year irrigation is not necessary. In dry land, 
where water is not abundant for irrigation, the hedges do not 
grow up regularly. In the general opinion of farmers, osage- 
orange hedges will not pay, even in the lund best suited for 
them: the labor of planting the seed, transplanting the sprouts, 
irrigating, replanting, and trimming for three years, costs more 
than a board-fence, which is useful from the first day, and is in 
no danger from gophers, whereas the hedge is useless for three 
years, and is in constant danger. 
The willow-hedge is the most common fence in Los Angeles 
county, and is a prominent feature of the scenery near the 
towns. The fence is made with cuttings, the larger the better ; 
the largest are three inches in diameter and eight feet long. 
These are planted perpendicularly three feet deep and nine 
inches apart, and then irrigated freely, when nearly all will 
grow. If larger cuttings cannot be had, small ones, half an 
inch thick and two feet long, are taken; and only an inch or 
two is left above-ground. If the cuttings are of the largest 
size, the fence is good in the second year; if small, four or 
five years may be required to make a tight fence. Twigs and 
poles are woven horizontally through the hedge. In the course 
of eight or ten years, the willows grow to be trees, with trunks 
five or six inches in diameter, and with dense tops from fifteen 
to thirty feet high. They thus not only shut out trespassing 
animals, but furnish a large amount of firewood, an item of uo 
small importance in the woodless plains of the south, and throw 
a pleasant shade over the roads which they line. The willow- 
fence requires frequent irrigation, for its growth will usually 
depend upon the amount of water supplied to it. i 
The cactus was used extensively for fences at the old mis- 
sions, and some fields are still enclosed with it. The plant is 
merely thrown upon the ground, where it takes root, no matter 
