86 TREES AND TREE-PLANTING. 
a botanist contemporary with Linnzus. Michaux, sent 
out by France twenty years ago, predicted that it would 
become valuable as a hedge-plant. 
Mr. Helme says: “In 1838 I found this tree growing 
on the Mississippi, from St. Louis to Wisconsin. Those 
on the Mississippi, I think, are not identical with ours, 
for they are less thorny and the bark a darker color.” 
A correspondent from Illinois states that if they stand 
near the yellow-locust they are affected with the borer ; 
but ours are not, for a few years since all the yellow- 
locusts in our city were destroyed by the borer, but the 
honey-locusts, standing side by side with them, were not 
affected in the least. They will grow on any soil, wet 
or dry, and receive no injury from cold at thirty-four 
degrees below zero. 
Mr. Helme says: “Six years ago I set fifty rods, one 
foot apart, cut back the second year to one foot from 
the ground, and it would turn stock in four years.” 
To plant a hedge, gather the seeds in the fall; in 
April mix them with sand, keep them moist and warm 
until they sprout, then sow in drills two inches deep; 
set the plants when one year old, cutting to within two 
inches of the ground. At the end of two years cut back 
to three inches, after which trim once a year. A man 
with a pair of twelve-inch shears will trim eighty rods 
per day, and for a wind-break I consider it invaluable. 
Cut back once a year, and then trim the sides to keep 
them tidy. 
T left ten rods of my hedge as an experiment, and it is 
now six years old and from twelve to fifteen feet high, 
and will turn all large stock. 
A correspondent of mine says he has been successful 
in setting plants three feet apart. I have no doubt a 
good hedge could be thus obtained, for the branches 
grow at nearly right angles with the trees, and they 
‘would have more room and light in this way and be less 
apt to smother. 
