THE SOUTHERN 



PLANTER. 



269 



laughed at me for farming after the Cultivator, 

 as they called it, and I cannot boast of the crops 

 of Mr. Risley, of Cataque, yet I got at the rate 

 of six hundred bushels to the acre, and am sa- 

 tisfied it is more profitable than raising potatoes, 

 could we get a good crop of the latter, which is 

 very uncertain ; and this year I have sowed 

 twice as much as I did last year, and am confi- 

 dent I shall get one-third heavier crop, as I did 

 not sow them last year until the last of May, 

 which I think was too late ; it was also a very 

 dry season. I raised, last year, on one-fourth of 

 an acre 150 bushels, which, at 15 cents a bushel, 

 amounts to $22 50. Whole time spent in 

 ploughing, sowing, seeding, and digging 18 2 

 days, every hour told, which, at 75 cents a day, 

 is $13 87. Cost of seed, $1 50; making, in 

 all, $15 37, and leaving a nett profit of $7 12, 

 or at the rate of $29 50 per acre. — Albany Cult. 



From the Ohio Cultivator. 



MACLURA OR OSAGE ORANGE FOR 

 HEDGES. 



{Letter from Mr. Gowen.) 



Mr. Bateham, — Observing, in a late number 

 of your'spirited and useful paper, a reference to 

 me, as to the running and sprouting of the roots 

 of the Maclura, I take occasion to respond to 

 the call — ever ready as I am, and ever will be, 

 I trust, to enlighten my brother agriculturists, as 

 far as my experience goes, upon any subject 

 connected with their interests and the promotion 

 of agricultural improvement. 



From an intuitive repugnance, at first, to the 

 unsightly post and rail and worm fences, and 

 the experimenting upon the expense and trouble 

 in maintaining them, I turned my attention to 

 live fencing, as being more sightly, less expen- 

 sive, and more enduring. The hawthorn — the 

 beautiful and fragrant hawthorn — from a thou- 

 sand associations, would have been the substitute 

 for the pound-like post and bars; but then the 

 objection presented itself, of its being too delicate 

 for our intense frosts and fervid suns. Looking 

 with much interest at all other sorts of hedge 

 in use, I adopted the Osage orange, and have 

 planted freely of them for several years. Its 

 foliage is beautiful, its growth rapid, its pins or 

 thorns formidable, and it stands the climate well. 

 If all the hedges of this plant I have put down 

 were joined together continuously, they would 

 extend over a mile in length. The plants I 

 procured myself since 1838, from cuttings from 

 the roots, made and planted in manner as the 

 morus multicaulis was, by those who followed 

 that speculation. 



The only objection to be taken to the Osage 

 orange is the one in question ; it does run con- 

 siderably, and sprouts from the roots, but this is 

 as nothing on farm land, compared to the con- 



stant: repairing of post and rail fence, the loss of 

 ground by the worm fence, and the weeds and 

 brambles occupying the angles inside the fields; 

 but the farmer who will have a worm fence of 

 cultivated land, and permit a nursery of thistles 

 and -other pests to luxuriate in patches in every 

 field, will never think of a live fence. The beau- 

 tiful and shad}? hedge can have no charms for 

 him, nor will he put himself to the trouble to 

 count the difference in cost of a row of beautiful 

 and compact dwarfed trees, planted to grow and 

 abide forever, and that of post and rails, to be 

 renewed every ten years, and requiring patching 

 and setting up almost every spring. 



I might give you the history 7 of the Maclura 

 or Osage orange, but I suppose it is familiar to 

 most of your readers. It was called Maclura 

 in compliment to the late William Maclure, 

 a Scotch gentleman, a philosopher of much 

 learning and science, and a philanthropist after 

 the Robert Owen and Fanny Wright school. 



I should have replied to your call in this mat- 

 ter earlier, but indisposition, and other matters 

 and cares prevented ; and even now, though 

 much better in health, I am obliged to^e very 

 brief. Before I close, however, permit me to 

 thank you for the interest you have manifested 

 for the founding of an Agricultural College un- 

 der my auspices, and for the favorable terms in 

 which } 7 ou have spoken of me connected with 

 that subject. I feel that I deserve the commen- 

 dation of you and your brethren of the agricul- 

 tural press. I shall not be accused of vanity or 

 egotism, by those who know me well, when I 

 say, there are few men living,. who have labored 

 harder or with more singleness of purpose to 

 promote the true and permanent interests of agri- 

 culture than I have done. I was in earnest, and 

 still am. If Providence restores to me my wonted 

 health and energies, I shall do that for the landed 

 interest, through the college you have so favor- 

 ably spoken of, that will more than realize your 

 expectations, sanguine as they seem to be, and 

 will be sensibly seen and felt long after we shall 

 have passed that bourne, from whence no tra- 

 veller returns. 



Very respectfully, yours, &c. 



James Gowen, 

 Ml Airy, Philadelphia, October, 1846. 



MEANS OF LEARNING A HORSE TO PACE. 



Buckle a four pound weight around the an- 

 kles of his hind legs, (lead is preferable) ride 

 your horse briskly with those weights upon his 

 ankles, at the same time twitching each rein of 

 the bridle alternately ; by this means you will 

 immediately throw him into a pace. After you 

 have trained him in this way to some extent, 

 change your leaden weights for something 

 lighter; leather padding, or something equal to 



