68 TREE CULTURE IN SOUTH AUSTRALIA. 



breadth of at least 18m. on each side of the line. Attention of this 

 kind will more than repay the trouble and expense put upon them, by. 

 fewer failui-es and greater and vigorous growths. 



Hedges should be planted about the end of June or beginning of 

 Jtily. With the seed-sowing, the sooner in the rainy season this is 

 done the better will the result be. 



All hedges should be cut down and trained for a few years in order 

 to encourage density, strength, and uniformity. I generally make the 

 first cutting in the autumn following the planting, and this to about 9in. 

 or lOin. from the ground (Fig. 43). Then, in the autumn of the next 

 year, I again cut and trim up to about I Sin. or 20in. above the surface 

 (Figs. 44 and 45), and so on from year to year until the hedge is to the 

 required height and shape. In performing this cuttiug, care must be 

 taken to encourage lateral growth and strength, as much as that of 

 upright habit. 



A good tool for cutting hedges is that known as the "hedge-bill" (see 

 Fig. 46), which is in general use in Eirrope for this purpose. 



Hedges may be cut and trained to almost any required form. In 

 Figs. 47, 48, and 49, I give a few of the generally-recognised shapes to 

 which they are trained. 



Now as to the kinds of hedge-plants suitable for cultivation in this 

 colony. This is a very difficult subject to deal with, and it has been 

 before the pubhc in the press over and over again, but without any 

 satisfactory conclusion as to what is really a good hedge plant. I don't 

 speak of a purely ornamental evergreen hedge suitable for an enclosure 

 to a gentlemsm's park or garden, but one that would be essentially, 

 and in every respect, suitable for farms or fields. The prince of hedge 

 plants is the White Thorn, when it has a suitable soil and climate ; but 

 it will not answer in this dry and hot country. It is true that there are 

 some beautiful hedges of it in the cooler and nacre elevated parts of the 

 colony, particularly at Mount Gambier and in the !Mount Lofty hills, 

 and these are as fine specimens of hawthorn hedges as may be seen in 

 the old country; but they cannot be grown on the plains. Various 

 plants have been brought prominently before the public from time to 

 time. Madura aurantiaca (osage orange) was spoken verj- highly of in 

 Victoria, and quantities of seed were sown here as an experiment ; but, 

 imless in very rich and special sites, it has been a failure here. Then we 

 have been hearing a great deal about the Lychim horridum —Vs&i 

 thorn ; but of this nothing definite can be yet said, although, so far, it 

 is satisfactory. A species of Gleditschia was highly extolled some years 

 ago as a good hedge plant, but after a few trials it was given up. The 

 Gorse is extensively used in the Gumeracha and Motint Pleasant districts, 

 and in other parts of the colony where the climate is cool ; and when 

 kept cut it makes a splended fence ; but, unfortunately, it is too frequently 

 left untouched, and the consequences are that it spreads out its branches 

 la,terally to such an extent that the chain roads in the above districts 

 give scarcely room enough for vehicles to pass along. And this is not 

 the least^ evil. The seeds are annually produced in lai-ge quantities, 

 and are jerked out of the pods to a great distance, and then lie in the 



