18 



GARDENING FOR THE SOUTH. 



near the ground; these shoots may be fastened to the 

 ground with hooked pegs. They may be considered as 

 layers, will soon send up a number of sprouts, making the 

 hedge impenetrable for pigs, and nearly for rabbits. The 

 young twigs may be trimmed in a wedge shape, not more 

 than one foot high, and at the base, six inches broad. The 

 next season the hedge may be allowed to grow one foot 

 higher, and three or four inches wider at the base. This 

 pruning is most readily given with a reaping hook, (a 

 sharp sickle without teeth), making the cut with an up- 

 ward stroke. Thus the management must be continued 

 until the hedge has attained the intended height, allowing 

 an addition of four inches broader at the bottom for ev- 

 ery foot more in height. A hedge, regularly trimmed 

 twice a year, in June and November, with the exception 

 of the first years, when it requires a little more care than 

 afterward, will continue impenetrable for fifty or even one 

 hundred years." 



The Cherokee rose, {Rosa Icevigata), by planting the 

 cuttings by the side of a plank or wire fence, two feet 

 apart, will grow up and cover it in a short time, and ef- 

 fectually repel man and beast ; but it grows so rampant 

 that it requires constant shortening-in. It is also apt to 

 die out at the bottom, and become unsightly, and is in all 

 respects much inferior to the single white Macartney, 

 (Rosa bracteata), an evergreen, and very easily grown from 

 cuttings. It is very thorny, and of beautiful foliage. It 

 never dies out at the bottom, whether pruned or not, and 

 south of Virginia, is very hardy, and of luxuriant growth. 

 A satisfactory fence can be made with this, by setting 

 good chestnut or cedar posts, eight feet apart, planted 

 about two and a half feet in the ground. Bank up the soil 

 to form some twenty inches high along the line of the fence, 

 then form the usual paling fence, or nail a good wide bottom 

 board, and finish the fence with heart pine six inch j)lanks, or 

 with stout wire, strained through holes in the posts. The 



