TWO DOLLARS A VTIAB.) 



■ PROGRESS AJSTD 



a IPROVEMEX-J- .■ 



:-• 'Vic ;h:nt& 



VOL. X. NO. 50.) 



ROCHESTER, N.Y.-FOR THE WEEK ENDING SATURDAY, DECEMBER 10, 1859. 



; WHOLE NO. 519. 



MOORE'S RURAL NEW-YORKER, 



BUHL, UTQLABY AUD PilHlT NEWSPAPER. 



CONDUCTED BY D. D. T. MOORE, 

 With in Able Corp* o( Assistants and Contributor*. 



FARM HEDGES. 



Hedges in England are g 



oerally gr 



wn as our 





b a ditcb 



o theout- 



nide, particularly on wet or 



stiff i,ii Hi. 



Tbe form 



of the ditob may be easily s 



eeo by the 



engraving 



below. 







English While Thorn, about forty rods in length, 



ami the lund is the same, and for the first live 

 years it grew as fine as any hedge could do, but 

 soon titer the borers attacked it — and now nearly 

 one-fourth of the plants are killed by that insect , 

 in some places for three or four yards, every plant 

 is dead, and although the hedge of Newcastle 

 Thorn is along side of it, the borer as yet has not 



1 planted a hedge some fourteen years since, of 

 White Thorn, Stteh and J'riott, alternately, and 

 for a number of years it was admired by everyone 

 that saw it, but the last Ore or six years the White 

 Thorn is going to decay, and in a few years more 

 there will not be a plant left; the borer, aphis and 

 bark louse are doing their work. I have planted over 

 eight tbousuud Whit' Thorn at different times the 

 last fourteen years, anil in no instance have tbey 

 succeeded well after the first four or fire years, and 

 it cannot be said that I do not know bow to treat 



We do not Lr,nc 

 a, special intere! 

 hedges for fencit 



e is anything to create 

 time ou tbe subject of 

 v plant that any one is 

 anxious to sell at a high price — no new book that 

 the enterprising publisher is very willing to dis- 

 pose of for the especial enlightenment of farmers 

 — yet within the few past weeks we have received 

 more articles and inquiries on the subject of 

 hedging than for a year or two previous." Per- 

 haps the growing scarcity of timber, its great cost, 

 and the difficulty of procuring propei 



t a!n 





L- II.. 



conviction pretty general this autumn, that some- 

 thing must be done to provide a substitute, and 

 tbe sooner tbe better. 



We have long considered this question one of 

 importance, anil have not failed lo give the readers 

 of the BUBAL all the information possible on tbe 

 subject. For many years we hoped that the Osage 

 Orange would prove just the plant needed to make 



all sections of our country, nor do we yet des- 

 pair. Ifut, of late, we have heard repeated com- 

 plaints of injury by severe winters, of hedges of 

 several year's growth, being nearly destroyed.— 

 There may be some local causes for this, so we 

 wait for further information, and we bope our 

 readers at the West, where the winters are the most 

 trying, will give us their experience. If the Osage 

 Orange is too teuder— if it suffers seriously one win- 



immey or labor should be expended upon it — it 

 must be abandoned. Then we are thrown back to 

 where we were twelve years ago, when the Osage 

 Orange was first introduced, not having made the 

 least progress, only to prove thut another plant is 

 unfit for a hedge. Uut, we hope better things, 

 and while on this subject we will remark thut 

 many attempts at hedge growing, in fact niosl 

 ihnt we have seen, are only a farce, as much so as 

 to £0 nilii mi uld meadow with a hoc, chop holes in 

 the sod, plant corn, leave it and expect a crop. 

 Sometimes, the planting is dons pretty well, but 

 after that the hedge receives no care or culture. 

 We never knew an Osage Orange hedge to suffer 

 in tbe winter that had been twice pruned tbe pre- 

 vious summer, the last time* the latter part of 

 August. This Ut« pruning checks growth, and 

 causes tbe wood to ripen early. Perhaps an an- 

 nual pruning m the latter part of summer would 

 accomplish tbe same object. 



We bear niich of the ewe of making a hedge in 

 the mild, moist climate of Englat 



rally gi' 



be made in England. There the hedge is culti- 

 vated morn thoroughly than we cultivate our corn, 

 while the pruning « regular and systematic, and 

 such, at every stage, as experience has found the 

 best. On this point we have the following inquiry, 

 and our remarks, which were intended as merely in- 

 troductory, have extended far beyond our original 



OMlgB, 



a l'n 



r hedge* of Eagland, 

 mo4«U,-are planted, tt Is lib : i 



These ditches, when kept in order, make excel- 



wasto water from the held drains, while tbey keep 

 tbe road dry at all seasons. With such ditches, 

 too, it is difficult for stray cattle in the road to 

 approach the hedge, and, therefore, in a field not 



tected when quite young. It has been contended 

 that the syBtcm of ditching would not answer 

 for this country, on account of our hot, dry sum- 

 mers ; that the plants would suffer from drouth on 

 account of the drainage of the water, and the extra 

 surface exposed. We would, however, like to 

 have tbe experiment fully and fairly tried. We 

 hate seen the Osuge Orange hedge suffer ing from 

 excessive moisture in the spring, where we were 

 satisfied ditching, according to the English plan, 

 would be of the greatest advantage. 



enty v 





Br the following, from a correspondent in Illi- 

 nois, it will be seen that tbe Osage Orange is not 

 yet a failure at tbe West. Late summer pruning, 

 too, is practiced. This is of the utmost impor- 

 tance, where the winters are severe, and cannot be 

 too highly recommended. 



Messrs. Ens, :— Seeing an article in your paper 

 of Oct. 29tb from tbe pen of ffu. B. Rice in rela- 

 tion to hedge-growing, in which he says, after six 



hopeless condition than ever, und consequently 

 concludes that UieOsiige plaui for hedge purpose! 

 in that latitude in a hoax. W. M. BEAucnAiip, 

 of Skaneateles, seems to coincide in that Opinion. 

 Being a lover of, and an advocate of the Osage 

 hedge, I feel it my duty to add a mite of practical 



experience in cultivating the Osage plant, and 

 have succeeded very well in forming a strong and 

 beautiful barrier. I labored three years of tbe 

 live under the same difficulty experienced by Mr. 

 Rice, and came very near forming the same opin- 

 ion of tbe plant, but I observed that tbe plant 

 made such rapid progress and continued to grow 

 so late in the fall it was very tender when cold 

 weather set in, and, as a matter of course, could 



elusion that (he growth must be checked in advance 

 of the cold weather to give the wood time to 

 mature. Tins I tried, and it bus proved effectual. 

 I find tbe time to trim the Osage to be from the 25th 

 August to the 16th of September. One clipping a 

 year is sufficient under good cultivation. When 

 the hedge is properly matured stock down to 

 grass, and it will take care of itself with occasional 

 trimming. I shall be pleased to have Wu, II. 

 Rica and others try the experiment and report 

 through the Rural. There is not the least doubt 

 in my mind in regard to the Osage doing well in 

 New York, with proper treatment. I spent over 

 forty years of my life in that State, and have some 

 little knowledge of the climate. 



Here we give the experience or an old and skill- 

 ful gardener with both tbe Ntueotitt Thorn (Cock- 

 spur,) and the Hawthorn. 



Ens. Riral New-Yorker;- 1 There seems lo be 

 a difference of opinion about the English Whiit 

 Thorn, and with your permission I will give my 

 experience in hedge growing. I have now under 

 my care more than four hundred rods of hedges. 

 Some are doing well, others not so well, and the 

 White Thorn is becoming a total failure. In the 

 •pring of 1642, 1 planted a hedge of two thousand 

 plants of Xtifcartlt Thorn, (recommended by the 

 late Mr Downisc.) I bare given it every atten- 

 tion, not letting a weed interfere with it* growth ; 

 it is pruned every Tea r, and yet it is not what I 

 would call a good hedge— not as good as hedges of 

 seven or eight years' growth, that I bare seen in 

 the old country. In 1H) i pUn^d a hedge of 



country where the White Thorn was grown to per- 

 fection, and our regular sates of that article was 

 from two to three hundred thousand a year, and a 

 small establishment at that, 



I have more success with the Privet as a hedge- 

 plant than any other 1 have tried. I have over 

 two hundred rods of Privet hedge, varying from 

 ten to fourteen years, and in every instance it is 

 healthy and a good fence, but it is scarcely formid- 

 able enough for a farm, though it is fine for a nur- 

 sery, garden or door yard. When I commenced 

 this article I thought tu have laid before your 

 readers the utility of hedges, us a protection to our 

 fruits, but will leave it lo another lime, as you like 







toft 



I be a 



remarks made by us upon a former communica- 

 tion, and gives a very good description of English 

 hedges. Mr. B. seems to think our failure with 

 tbe Hawthorn is entirely on account of bad treat- 

 ment. In this respect we are much at fault. 



Messrs. EniTORs:— Previous to 1820, very few 

 hedges were newly planted in England for a period 

 of twenty or more years. Tbe plan was to allow 

 them to grow for years, and then cut down and 

 convert into firewood— the greater breadth the 

 more substantial the fence. Hedges seldom occu- 

 pied in those days less than ten feet in width, often 

 twice that space. They were often composed of 

 every imaginable shrub, Hawthorn, Black Thorn, 

 Sloe, Sweet-briar, Dogs-rose, Honeysuckle, Hazel, 

 Dog-wood, Alder, Willow, Dwarf Maple, Privot, 

 Ac. This latter plant, at one time, was in great 

 esteem, as considered of great service in obliterat- 

 ing defects in the Hawthorn. After some years it 

 was found that the Privet killed tbe Hawthorn, 

 and yet many English emigrants will assert that a 

 good hedge cannot be made without such a mix- 

 ture. Tbe hedges growing, planted previous to 

 1820, irwa many of them of Charles tbe First's 

 time, and some even earlier. Since railroads 

 became of greater notoriety than in days of yore, 

 a complete revolution has been effected in the 

 planting and management of the Hut-thorn hrjg,* 

 in England. They are not entrusted to every-day 

 laborers, but to men of experimental knowledge. 

 It is a distinct branch from common nursery 

 work. I spent ISIS in England, and was surprised 

 at the appearance in hedges, and the improvement 

 in their cultivation. On soils that, at a previous 

 period, were thought entirely unlit for a hedge, I 

 found flourishing hedges. In 1830 I visited Eng- 

 land, and I passed over large tracts where, for 

 miles, n Hawthorn was unknown,— either dykes, 

 embankments, or stone walls, were the fences used, 

 and dried cow-dung the only fuel,— yet England is 

 a great coal country, and no doubt the inhabitants 

 that were then strangers to coal have now a knowl- 

 edge of that mineral, aud have been benefited by 



Once more, you say truly that the Hawthorn is 

 the only good protective hedge in England, and 

 why V because experience has taught them remedies 

 for defects and disease, that were formerly incura- 

 ble,— formerly if a tbio place was found, stakes, 

 boards, Ac, were brought into requisition to 

 strengthen it, which only made a bad matter 

 worse. That the tenant farmer is generally com- 

 petent to manage a hedge, is also true ; that the 

 farm-laborer is, too, I cannot concede. He may be 

 capable of doing what he is told, and perform his 

 part with efficiency where strength is wanted,— 

 but no tenant or laborer would undertake to plant 

 or manage a hedge in an untried location without 

 advice from persons of experience. I can assure 

 you that I have seen scores of miles of the finest 

 soil under cultivation, that never had a Hawthorn 

 hedge to enclose it. I have seen scores of hedges 



of Maple, (a dwarf kind,) tbe Hazel, the Box, tbe 

 Holly, tbe Laurel, Ac, and in bleak situ alio 

 Black Thorn and Sloe. The Horn Btan, t 

 often used for the same purpose. The great variety 

 of plants used for fences in England, may be 

 termed legion. I cannot enumerate at), bi 

 Hawthorn has tbe pre-eminence, and I thi 

 other kind is used where strength and durabi 



There 





type of the old hedges in England, composed of 

 almost all tbe varieties of plants that will bush, 

 with here and there a piece of dead wood thrust in 

 to stop a gap. W. M. Beahciiaiip. 



The old hedges of England are broad as described 

 by our correspondent, and composed of a mixed 

 mass of plants, in which tbe bramble is generally 

 quite prominent. The Sloe and tbe Black Thorn 



- the v 



spin, 



■_■ II i'.i Tln.ri 



gmbhed 



is always substituted. Still, there were manj 

 fine Hawthorn hedges planted long before 1620, 

 In l.yi'J we saw in a^ni Scent Quieb hedges; one in 

 particular, eight feet in height, and as true as b 

 wall, which the proprietor informed us had been 

 planted thirty years. Coal, doubtless, will comt 

 into more general use, as the facilities for trans- 

 portation increase, but we could not but rejoice at 

 the ease with which the English laboring poor in 

 the country provided themselves with their win- 

 ter's fuel. A few days labor of the lather, early in 

 the fall, added to what the boys and girls could do 

 during the summer, and half a day with "mat- 

 ttr's 'one and cart," and abundance of fuel is pro- 

 cured, to keep the family warm aud comfortable 

 during the coldest winter. Turf, 



fully s 



s till t 





a fee] 



E. C. Frost, the well known nurseryman of 

 Havana, Schuyler county, discards tbe old, and 

 least, partially tried plants, and recommends the 

 Barberry. All that our correspondent 

 its thick growth, its pretty yellow flowers, its 

 lively foliage and its beautiful crimson berries, i 

 cheerfully admit. With a very little pruning 

 will make a good thick bottom, and a fine screei 

 but we fear it will not prove sufficiently strong I 



Ens. RiitAL New-Yorkbr :— This subject havii 

 been brought before tbe public in several of the 

 late numbers of the Rural, I am ind 

 you this. It is an important subje 

 material must be found for line fei 

 whole system of farming must be changed, and 

 soiling adopted in place of grazing. 



From observation and experience I have come 

 to tbe conclusion that our farms will never be 

 fenced with the Omgt Orange or English Haw- 

 thorn. I will recommend a plant, and risk the 

 opinion that it will answer a good purpose. 



The Barberbt {farhcri* vulgaris) I believe is 

 tbe best material yot grown in our latitude. In a 

 good soil it grows from eight to ten feet high- 

 needs no trimming or training— forms, by its nat- 

 ural growth, a dense, well-shaped hedge— is not 

 injured by the mice or borers, as nothing will eat 

 its bitter bark and wood — is not injured by the 

 cold— is so thick and close at the bottom that 

 neither pigs or cats can gel through it — never 

 sprouts except from the stool of the plant — and is 

 armed with thorns large enough to prevent cattle 



Tbe surface of the hedge is uniform, and covered 

 with leaves within eighteen inches of tbe ground, 

 bears a fine yellow flower in May, and has red ber- 

 ries, which, if not picked, remain during winter. 

 Tbe berries moke line tarts, jellies, pickles and 

 candies, and when dried are a good substitute for 

 tamarinds in cases of fever. 1 have a specimen 

 which I believe will satisfy any that the above 

 opinion is well founded, and invite any who feel 

 sufficient interest on that subject, to inspect it. 

 For an ornamental hedge, too, I can imagine 

 nothing superior. E. C. Frost. 



W« have now, we think, brought this question 

 pretty effectually to the notice of ou 

 have devoted more space to it thai 

 give to one subject ; still, we have 

 than its importance demands. Thi 

 ing when our fields and gardens 

 with living plants, and we may 

 about the question and compare not 

 progress we are making. That there should be 

 great difference of opinion in regard to the 

 plants and plor 



enerailT 



II think 

 ee what 

 uld tM 



nded— it 



..lli, r 



■UBIDg. 



Thus I 



: bl i 



experience light will be evolved that will direct us 

 in the sure path to success. 



be in a hurry— to be willing to wait four or live 

 years while a beige is making, perhaps, two or 



'\YAx 



. _ tl hedge. The engraving above 

 shows a good hedge, with a base that a hedge- 

 grower might be proud of. 



GROWING TIMOTHY SEED ON THE PRAIRIE. 



Kr: 



Nbw-Yo 



-Thi- 



increasing, and remunerative branch of Western 

 agriculture. As yet no such weeds are known 

 here as mar the meadows and pasture lands of 

 Eastern hillsides. The soil is well adapted to tho 

 growth of Timothy, and it is cheaply and easily 

 harvested with a two-borse reaper and threshed 

 achine. Mr. B. grew, the past season, 

 res, which cost him, 

 in harvesting, but fourteen dollars besides bis 

 lobor. The product frequently reaches in cash 

 value fifteen dollars per acre. Hence it will be 



::1, ,1.^.1 I 



jadily i 





the East, only a few crops a 

 before the yield of grass becomes finer and the 

 product of seed much less. 



To grow Timothy seed we prefer rather damp 

 land, and should seed in the spring with wheat, 

 barley, or oats, or the ground may be, and some- 

 times is, cropped with corn and seeded after the 

 crop is through being cultivated. Wc would not 

 seed as thick for raising seed as for pasture or 

 meadow, and think one peck of seed per acre a 

 plenty. Tbe roller bos a good effect upon newly- 

 seeded prairie, and facilitates the use of machin- 

 ery afterward in harvesting. The first three crops 

 after Beeding usually pay well, and three years 

 is long enough for land to lie in grass in a well- 

 managed rotation. 



In view of the facts mentioned in this article, 

 in regard to the purity of Western seed, we would 

 recommend Eastern consumers to see to it that 

 they buy prairie-grown seed— seed grown where 

 we have never yet seen a daisy, nor a thistle, or 

 any weed which has proved itself noxious in 

 Eastern meadows. 



Land on which Timothy seed is to be grown 

 successfully, should not be cropped with wheat 

 and oate too severely, or it may not catch well, 

 even when yet producing good crops. It is neces- 

 sary to secure the crop before it has become fully 

 ripeued, as showers and heavy winds are liable 

 to waste it by shelling. We have known instances 

 where half of a lar^-e crop was thus beaten off in 

 an hour. The proper time for securing is when 

 tbe seeds in the top of the head hove ripened — 

 binding in small bundles and setting up Imme- 

 diately after the reaper— it will pexfecl 

 well as early cut wheat. We have seen seed 





agre* 



that nearly all the hull, or outside, was rubbed off 

 in passing through the machine, leaving the naked 

 flesh of the seed which grew well. There is no 

 danger of injury to the seed, therefore, from |hjj 

 cause, although we would not cut as green as 

 above spoken of. After it has stood for a little 

 time io uncapped shocks, it should be secured, 

 either by threshing or stacking, and carefully 

 covering the top of the stack so water cannot get 

 in to destroy it. Few departments of Western 

 husbandry have proven more profitable than 

 growing Timothy seed. ,. e . 



Temperance Hill, Lee Co., I1L, 1859. 



EXPERIENCE WITH LIGHTNING RODS. 



Eos. Rural New-Yorkee : —Several years 

 before tbe advent of the Chinese sugar cane in 

 this locality, a good many persona were seized 

 with a mania for lightning rods. BitinttHtbd 

 gentlemen, with but slight pretensions lo scientific 

 knowledge, came along frequently to urge upon 

 the attention of landlords the protection which 

 they afforded to buildings, and, by jour leave, sir, 

 to put them on your dwelling*, barns and out- 

 houses at such price per foot! With a little 



;3X£ 



