264 THE NURSERY. [March. 
Crab and Apple Hedges. 
The common wild thorny crab will make an excellent ground, or 
ditch hedge, and will thrive in a poorer soil than the thorn; and 
hedges raised from the pippins of apples, do tolerably well and form 
strong fences; the former is raised from the pippins, and the latter 
can be propagated in abundance by sowing the pumice, very thick, 
immediately after being pressed for cyder, on a bed of good 
ground properly prepared, and covering the whole with fine light 
earth, near an inch deep: a few plants will appear soon after sow- 
ing, but a great crop will come up in spring, which may afterwards 
be used for stocks to graft on, and also for hedges, where more suit- 
able kinds cannot be had. 
Hornbeam and Beech Hedges. 
Our indigenous kinds of hornbeam and beech, will make admira- 
ble hedges; the seed of the former, which it produces here in great 
abundance, will require the same preparation and management in 
every respect, as directed for haws in page 152, &c. 
In Westphalia and other parts of Germany, the hornbeam is in 
great repute for hedges. The German husbandman throws up a 
parapet of earth, with a ditch on each side, and plants his sets, 
raised from layers, in such a manner, that every two plants intersect 
each other; there he cuts off the bark and a little of the wood from 
each, and binds them close together with a hay-band. The plants 
unite, and form a living palisado, which being pruned or dressed 
annually with discretion, will in a few years make an impenetrable 
fence. Most other kinds may be treated in the same manner. 
The seeds or mast, as they are commonly called, of the beech y 
may be sown as soon as ripe, but as the ground mice, squirrels, 
&c. are extremely fond of them, it will be the better way to preserve 
them in dry sand till March, to be then sown, either in drills, or 
broad cast in beds, covering them not more than half an inch deep; 
for, as they rise with very broad seed-leaves, they could never work 
up through a thick covering. The beech vegetates the first spring 
after the perfection of its seed; the hornbeam not till the second. 
Honey-Locust and Elm Hedges. 
The Gleditsia triacanthos, or honey-locust, will make very good 
hedges; the seeds are to be sown in March, and covered half an 
inch deep; they will come up freely, and when a year old, may be 
transplanted into nursery rows, till of sufficient size to plant. If to 
be planted in the face of ditches, they will in the second year be in 
prime condition for that purpose. 
The elm makes a good hedge, and is propagated by seed, suckers, 
or layers; when by seed it should be sown as soon as ripe, which 
in the middle states, is between the the 1 5th and 20th of May; it may 
be sought for and collected at that time, dried for four or five days. 
