FOREST AND STREAM. 



foodhnd, Wmvn mid (Bar dm. 



HEDGES AND THEIR USES. 



NO. I.— AKBOR VIT^E. 



THE study of hedge plants — there use, and the various 

 kinds best adapted to the different sections of the United 

 States — is in itself sufficient for quite a large volume 

 Yet in answer to several questions as to what are the best 

 kinds adapted to, and their special cultivation for, several 

 localities of South and West, we will give a brief sketch of 

 our experience in the cultivation of these elegant substi- 

 tutes for the stone and wooden fences, rustic paiings, &c, 

 which years ago were so widely used all over our country, 

 for the reason they were the best kind then known. Ex- 

 perience, study, and the mission of the landscape gardener, 

 with the refining influence of the application of the princi- 

 ples of high art to the common necessities of life, have 

 opened a wider field both for the use of the beautiful and 

 practical. Our own experience has led us to make various 

 experiments, and Ave ate gratified to be able to say, that for 

 the most part our experiments have been profitable and very 

 acceptable to those who' have used them. 



There are some six or more plant materials from which some 

 five or six years of careful labor and attention will give 

 a beautiful and excellent hedge ; and some of great beauty, 

 evea in this varying climate of ours. Let no one, how- 

 ever, who loves the beautiful in the. hedge-row, suppose for 

 a moment that all that is necessary to give him a fine hedge 

 is to plant out the seed and let the same take care of itself. 

 if lie only plants the seed, an/1 goes fishing, and forgets all 

 about ids hedge, he had far better have " gone fishing" be- 

 fore he planted his seed. Care and careful watching are 

 absolutely necessary in order to have a fine hedge of any 

 kind ; such as pan be had of great beauty, capable of re- 

 sisting the attacks of every kind of cattle; a well grown bar- 

 rier, too, that will outlast many generations. Among the 

 five or six really best hedge plants for general use, we place 

 at the head of our list the Arbor Vitse or (flat cedar) found 

 growing abundantly in many localities. This well known 

 plant is probably the best that can be used for evergreen 

 hedges, possessing as it does the remarkable qualities of quick 

 growth, the foliage being of a beautiful deep green and grow- 

 ing clown to the very ground, retaining its evergreen char- 

 acter during the entire year. The Arbor Vitae found in the 

 region of the Hudson river seems to be a distinct species 

 from many other kinds with which Ave are familiar, and "is 

 perhaps unsurpassed by any other kind in this climate. 

 This kind we have found from experience to be perfectly 

 hardy, in the most adverse situations. It is very rarely at- 

 tacked by insects ; the slug, aphis, and many other t; bugs 

 of prey" give it a wide berth. Under favorable circum- 

 stances, it is a very long lived plant ; hoAvlongit would live 

 Ave do not knoAv, but probably to one hundred years. 



The Arbor Vitas of the Hudson, and the Arbor Vitaj ob- 

 tained from the State of Maine, are decidedly the best to be 

 had, and these Ave can recommend as being quite likely to 

 give entire satisfaction to all Avho love a good piece of work 

 and are willing to give to the work the attention it deserves. 



No plant bears the shears better than the Arbor Vitae. 

 Easily kept in order by two primings in a season only, 

 it very readily takes the shape desired, and soon becomes a 

 thing of beauty, or a "horrid fright, "under the clippings of 

 the man of intelligence, or the boor.* 



I have received many letters within a period of some ten 

 years asking' for information and my opinion upon the dif- 

 ferent qualities of the hedge plant, their adaptation to soil, cli- 

 mate, and other important matter relating to the same. 

 " How shall I plant it ? is a frequent question asked, and 

 a pertinent one too. 



Every one having the care of grounds in the country, 

 large or small, is aware of the past want of some good rapid- 

 growing, well developing, evergreen plant for screen 

 hedges and blinds, barriers, &c. Well, you have the very 

 thing in the hardy beautiful Arbor Vitce, adapted it seems 

 by Providence, to the very wants of man. We shall speak 

 of other and valuable beautiful hedge plants in discussing 

 the subject of hedges and hedge plants ; but in this paper, 

 confine ourselves to this one plant. The great ease with 

 which it gives you a splendid hedge, is a great reccomend- 

 ation to its universal use. While the "browns" disfigure 

 many other kinds of hedges, the Arbor Vitge is always 

 green ; Avhile Avith the Red Cedar, somewhat used in hedges, 

 some of the larger branches and very hardiest trees suffer 

 from an attack of "the browns," and die off without any 

 apparent cause. Such is sometimes, and I may say often, 

 the case with the Chi#se Arbor Vitae. While such a dis- 

 agreeable and repulsive feature, surely, may be looked for 

 as not uncommon to the Red Cedar and Chinese Arbor Vi- 

 ta?, such a thing as a dead tree of the Arbor Vitas of the 

 true kind I have never yet seen.f 



I have a hedge of the Arbor Vitae no w upon my grounds 

 in the town of Arlington, Mass., some two hundred rods in 

 length, seven feet in height, which is one beautiful com- 

 pact screen of green, unimpaired and beautiful. It is about 

 fourteen years old. This hedge was set out one very warm 

 day in the month of July, and was not watered except by 

 the natural rains which fell, for the entire season. I have 



*We have no patietice with that horrid exhibition of bad taste called 

 anhHofa^f ° f Avb ° r VU " im ° m011stro «* ^««tVbfe; and 



tLast winter, 1872 and '73, was one in the East New England States that 

 tried the hark of trees. The thermometer fell far below zero TanY the 

 cold was Intense. I was called professionally for advice in relation to the 

 best usage of the Arbor Viae hedges hv several persons who had Sited ill 

 a very exposed situation. I recommended their waitin^nnt 1 JrSnd Ju lv 

 betore patting the knife to them. My advice was good. Thev are now 



two circles composed of Arbor Vita? plants, upon my lawn 

 grounds, set out for ornament, which are twenty feet diam- 

 eter and of a height of twenty-two feet, forming a perfect 

 plot or group, and presenting an evenness of exterior as 

 though clipped Avith the shears, and yet they have only been 

 twice clipped each season. Those plants Avere when set 

 eighteen inches in height, ' and set one foot apart. The 

 plants of the Arbor Vita? can always be obtained. The best 

 time to plant them is in the Spring, from May first to June ; 

 they will thrive if well planted in July. The same great 

 law of vegetation, however, seems to govern all plants ; 

 when the buds begin to swell, you can with safety begin to 

 plant. 



Good plants from the nurseries are worth from eight to 

 thirty dollars per hundred ; choice ones from one to four feet 

 high, range a little higher. Having determined to plant 

 a hedge, after well trenching the ground, you would do 

 well to select your plants at the uuesery yourself, and hav- 

 ing obtained good plants, be quite particular in doing your 

 work of setting out well, and in the most thorough manner. 

 The general rule for setting is one foot apart. Mulch your 

 plants, when practicable, upon setting out the same, and by 

 no means drown them because yon have an abundance of 

 water. We believe the Arbor Vitas as Avell adapted to the 

 Western States, as to the New England States, they with 

 due care thriving well in either locality. 



0KLAPOP Quit,!,. 



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ENGLAND is complaining of excessive heat, and Sydney 

 Smith's suggestion '"of stripping off ones flesh and sitting 

 in ones bones," is frequently alluded to. However much 

 they suffer, they seem to take an optimist's vicnv of what 

 they cannot prevent. The partridge they say, wil{ 

 not be worse for the weather, and as the young birds 

 are strong and plentiful in number they can stand 

 drought at their age much better than wet, Grouse re- 

 quire perhaps more water, but the hot spell, English 

 sportsmen think will not hurt them. Cricket is played just 

 as ardently as ever, though the temperature is snch as 

 might have roasted Mr. Alfred Jingle. The corn is in 

 grain, and the land wants the sun, and is grateful for il. 

 One fact to be mentioned, however, for the benefit of future 

 almanac makers is, that it rained on St, Swithin'sday, and in 

 the most perverse way, acting the very feverse o£ the usual 

 prophecy, it has been constantly dry ever since. Some 

 idea of the heat in England and Scotland may be had when 

 Ave read that on the Trent and in the Highlands during the 

 week ending July 26th, the thermometer stood as high as 

 9(K 



Salmon fishing in Norway seems to be declining. From 

 " Over the Doverfields, " a neAV fishing book by the author 

 of " A Ramble Through Norway, '' we extract the follow- 

 ing : 



"Of late there is a complaint that salmon fishing on the 

 whole is rapidly deteriorating in Norway. Year by year 

 the prices paid for the rivers have risen, till it lias at length 

 come to the point that a Norwegian river is fullv as expen- 

 sive a luxury to indulge in as a Scotch grouse moor, We 

 have knoAvn £800 per season to be paid for a stream barely 

 half a dozen miles in length, and even then saddled with 

 the proviso of giving up the bulk of the fish taken lo the 

 proprietor of the river. 



The worst of the matter is, that as prices have gone 

 up the fish have gone down (in quantity), a result princi- 

 pally owing to the unprincipled conduct of the natives 

 themselves. Not content with the heavy stuns in which 

 they mulct the "mad Englishmen" (for such they consider 

 them), they not only flog the waters most industriously 

 during their absence, but also net them without mercy, par- 

 ticularly at the point where the rivers throw themselves 

 into the fiords, and that with most melancholy success. 



The Storthing, it is true, so early as 1857— awake to the 

 evil results that would come to pass, should these practices 

 remain uncheceked-passed a law forbidding the use of nets at 

 the mouths of salmon rivers. This law, however, has never 

 been carried out in its integrity; the fish are dwindling- 

 away to a tithe of their numbers twenty years ago, and the 

 stupid proprietors— while chuckling over "their present gains 

 — Avill find, when too late, that thev have been but giving 

 another variation of the old fable, * killing the goose that 

 laid the golden eggs.' " 



The following correspondence occurs in Laud and Water: 

 "Birds Walking Under Water.— Sir: Last week 1 took 

 a cormorant in my trammels (bottom fishing nets) in about 

 six to eight fathoms of water. This occurrence is not a 

 rare one, but it has an important bearing 1 on the letters of 

 Mr. F. O. Morris and Mr. W. Reid in your two last issues. 

 To make it a common occurrence, as it is, that birds should 

 be taken in nets, fishing several fathoms under water, the 

 birds must be able not only to dive (vertically or obliquely) 

 but also to swim (laterally) under water, audit occurs to 

 one at once that it Avould be physically impossible for any 

 bird to do this unless it could in some way assimilate it's 

 specific gravity to that of the Avater around it. 1 am not 

 sufficiently scientific to hazard an opinion Avhether it might 

 not be neccessary, to enable a bird to get six or eight fath- 

 oms deep in the water, that it should be able to make its 

 specific gravity greater than that of the water to equalize 

 it for the purpose of enabling it to swim, and to reduce it 

 for the purpose of enabling it to rise. Mr. Reid's letter 

 goes to support the theorv that these things must be He 

 does not mention the sea-bird, in which, of all others, the 

 power of submersion can be most frequently observed 

 An alarmed grebe will solemnly disappear until it leaves 

 nothing visible but a slender neck surmounted by a small 

 head, and having behind it a mere suspicion of a back a 

 back which, in nautical phrase, is 'barely a Avash.' 



Has any one in the United States observed similar traits 

 in the cormorant? 



There is a movement in England, to do away with the 

 barbarous practice of„cropping terriers' ears. 



A very interesting book by Charles John Anderson, en- 

 titled " The Lion and the Elephant," lias just been issued 

 in London. The author, half Englishmen half Swede, trav- 

 eled with Francis Galton in 1850, in his explorations into 

 South Africa, when they even went beyond Lake Ngami. 

 The book is said to be not only remarkable as the narrative 

 of a hunting life Avith all its thrilling incidents', but evinces 

 wonderful research. It is the production of a perfect sports, 

 man and naturalist. The following extract from that por- 

 tion of the book devoted to elephant shooting, shows how 

 much endurance is necessary for the sport. — 



It was rarely or never that I could track, stalk, ami kill 

 my elephant and return to camp in less than ten hours; 

 more frequently I was absent from it for fourteen and six- 

 teen hours — nay, Ihave been as much as Iavo days a" f l i* 

 night engaged in a single hunt. My attendants (native) were 

 at times so completely T nsed up — I myself being nearly as 

 much so — that on their return to 1 lie bivouac they would 

 fall asleep whore they stood, alike indifferent to hunger, to 

 the chilling night air, or the scorching rays of the sun, as 



the ease might he It was not," however, hunger or 



fatigue that was most trying; the heat was more so. The 

 sun'," 'blazing in a sky of brass,' heated the atmosphere to 

 a state of suffocation, and the loose sandy soil to blistering- 

 intensity that made ' Water! water! ' the 'incessant cry; but 

 water, frequently half-boiling, even when we could carry a 

 decent supply with us, rarely allayed our burning' thirst. 



- P 1 ' 



sense of oppression throughout the whole system, a chok- 

 ing sensation in the throat,' a difficulty of speech, a fearful 

 palpitation of the heart,, and a nightmare feeling about th'- 

 chest, were frequently consequences of our excessive la 

 tlgue. 



The London Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Ani- 

 mals, is fortunate enough to have a Ladies' Committee, un- 

 der the direction of Lady Burdett Coiitts. The societ;, I 

 lately received a legacy of £10,000, and have invested £34,- 

 000. Tiie Duchess of Teck is a prominent member. 



A pike weighing thirty-five pounds was recently caught in 

 Loch Corrib, having inside; of him a grilse weighing six 

 pounds. 



Chain mail gauntlets and suits are advertised in an Eng- 

 lish paper, for the use of Indian officers. 



\\\t -hall tatulmwr w this deparVtmnt to irnpa/ri anil' hope to receive 

 . infawiationas may be of service tfetmateur and profepskmal sports- 

 ■//if-//. We null cheerfully anstoer all reawtirMe questions that fall within 

 Hit scope of litis paitcr. designating localities fur good Minting, fish ■ 

 ing, ana trapping, ami gating advice ana instructions as to oy&fitx^im- 

 pleinenfs, routes, distances, seasofis, expenses, remedies, traits, species, 

 governing raits, etc. All branches of the sportsman's craft wiM receive 

 attention. Anoivymous comwutmieoMoiw not noticed*] 



»- - 



L. H. B.— In regard to the Canadian system of overseers and wardens 

 tot guaraingtheir fiBhing streams, the adaptation of snch a plan to our rivers 

 would be excellent. The trouble is fcnat in the United states, ui the same 

 salaries as are paid in Canada, it would be difficult to find competent men. 

 An inspector receives in Canada ($728 a year and travelling expenses. 

 County overseers only get from Soil to $350. Wardens $400 to $750 a 

 year. The assistant inspector, of Nova Scotia lias a .salary of $800 with 



1 ravelling expenses. 



XXV.— The law in this respect is positive, tt says "no person shall 

 ■kill or expose for sale or have in ids possession, after the same is killed, 

 any wood duck. etc.. &c. between the 1st day of February and the 15th of 

 August." The Justice of the Peace in your section must be very igno- 

 rant of his duties. 



St. John.— Here is a good old fashioned receipt for mange, winch almost 

 always cures. Take four ounces of sulphur ointment and acid one ounce of 

 turpentine, mix, and rub the dog well with it twice a week. Continue, 

 this long enough, bathing him from time to time in a running stream. 

 Urn, if this will not avail, it would be better to shoot the dog. 



J. B.— We are not prepared as yet, to execute any commissions Confided 

 to our care. We trust, however, before the shooting and angling .season is 

 over, to do the best we can for our friends. 



Day m.— Any information yon may require as to the formation of a 

 rifle club in your town, would no donbt he cheerfully given you by the 

 Secretary of the National Rifle Association in this city". 



Blake.— A very large white-fish will weigh six pounds, oecasionallv 

 onc has been caught of eight, pounds. Generally two pounds is a- very 

 fair average. The exact orthography of the Maskinonge we can hardily 

 give you. We have heard both Muscalon and Masealongc. Mr. Scott 

 gives its derivation, as coming from the Ojibwa "ma-sjcmion.ja." We 

 rather think the French " M.uxqveloi«jvf meaning a long-headed fish, as 

 far. fetched The head is by no means out of proportion to his body. 



MoKuis.-Vlr. Prime in his charming book " I-go-flshmg, " notices al- 

 most j. similar fact as reported by you. lie says: "I have seen a trout 

 start from a point forty feet distance for a bait thrown into- the Pemige- 

 wasset and take it, and I was so much surprised that I measured the dis- 

 tance."' We should be pleased to hear from you more fully. What we 

 want is not merely a fisherman, but one who combines the naturalist's 

 habit of observation. 



A. H.— As courteously as possible we beg to state, that we must decline 

 solving betting questions, ft is not in our line. 



Dove. -The cost of the journey would be $200. Indian guides are not 

 always to be had. If you start three weeks later than you propose you 

 will be in good time. The calibre of your rifle is about right, We shall 

 be glad to hear from you. 



Baltimore.— The fact you mention in regard to feigned lameness of 

 birds, is quite novel, at least in this country, having perhaps escaped ob- 

 servation. English writers have, however, mentioned it, and in a late 

 number of the London Field you will see somewhat similar traits record- 

 ed of the wood pigeon. 



Brooklyn Bowler.— Of course the match took place. Cricket would 

 not he cricket in England without the Gentlemen vs. Players. The results 

 were as usual, the Players were nowhere. If our memory serves us 

 right, the two brothers Grace on the Gentlemen's side made between them 

 200 runs. The play took two days, and the Gentlemen won hv fifty-five 

 runs. This match has been played regularly for sixty-seven years. 



H. M.— For distances over 100 to 150 3-ards for rifle shooting, around 

 targets are not advisable. At long ranges, it is difficult to communicate 

 with the riflemen the exact position of his shot on a round target. How 

 true it may be, however, that the four corners of the square, indicate 

 better to the marksman the exact centre, we do not know. But very cer- 

 tainly at anything over 100 yards, better practice is made with a square 

 than with a round target. The system of averages is even fairer than the 

 one of measurement. Approximative precision is all we can look for now, 

 and all that it is needed at long ranges. 



Thompson & Taog, Pa.— Your favor will appear in our next. 



G. V. L. Cincinnati. —The reply to your query is answered in part in 

 our angling column. 



