38a 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[October, 
hands of some of your lady readers, who are 
au fait iu the art, and who, when they know 
lie is a bachelor, may commiserate his case. 
Successful Hedging. 
A few weeks ago we drove through portions 
of the States of Delaware and Maryland, and 
were surprised to see how universally the 
hedge was used as a substitute for fences. One 
of our traveling companions was a gentleman 
who was quite familiar with England, and he 
"Would frequently exclaim, "This is like a road 
I remember iu Kent," or some other part of 
England, so like was the sceneiy and the hedge- 
rows. The Osage Orange may be said to be 
the universal hedge plant; here and there the 
Cockspur Thorn, or, as it is there called, the 
Black Thorn, and some other of our native 
thorns, are used. The Osage Orange, however, 
makes a superior hedge; not only is it more 
compact, but it presents a more pleasing green, 
its lively-looking foliage, even in a dusty time, 
making a much more cheerful appearance than 
that of the thorns. The thorns belong to the 
Rose family, and, like all their relatives, are sub- 
ject to the attacks of numerous insects, a trouble 
from which the Osage Orange is particularly 
free. "With hedges, as witli all other crops, (?) 
the best results attend the best cultivation, aud 
one can no more hope to grow a hedge under 
neglect than he can expect a crop of corn to 
successfully contend with the weeds, and then 
yield seventy-five bushels to the acre. The old 
method of hedge-making, that of cutting back 
each year, and raising the hedge by regular 
stages from a broad base, is well-nigh abandon- 
ed. In preparing the ground forahedge, it is ne- 
cessary to exercise great care in removing all 
roots of native shrubs or vines. If the hedge is to 
be set upon the site of an old fence, where vines 
and creepers have become established, this is 
especially necessary; otherwise the Cat-Brier, 
Virginia Creeper, and similar things will greatly 
interfere with the growth of the hedge. The 
plants are set about six inches apart, and kept 
carefully cultivated. Neither grass nor weeds 
are allowed to intrude upon the young growth, 
and a fence of some kind is put up to protect it 
from injury by animals. The plants are allowed 
to grow at will for three or four years, according 
to the growth they have made, after which time 
they are "laid down," as it is called in Dela- 
ware, or "slashed," as they say out "West. This 
operation is performed in spring, and consists 
in bending the plants over and cutting each one 
half-way or more through, at a point three or four 
iuches above the surface, and laying it down 
upon the preceding one. After this operation 
both the partially severed stump and the tops 
that have been laid down throw up innumerable 
shoots and form a broad and dense thicket, 
which is soon ready to be shaped into the pro- 
per form for a hedge. By this treatment a full, 
thick bottom is secured — so thick, that a rabbit 
can hardly get through it, and several prunings 
during the early growth are saved. The after 
treatment consists in giving two, and frequently 
three, prunings each year. The cutting, being 
done while the wood is still soft, is yery rapidly 
performed. A simple knife, like a corn-cutter, is 
the implement generally preferred. The finest 
hedges we saw were those upon the estate of 
D. J. Blackiston, Esq., Kent Co., Md. This 
gentleman has five miles of hedging, and they 
are justly a matter of pride to him. He slated 
that last year he kept an account of what it cost 
him to keep his hedge in order. The work was 
done by one of his regular hands and the time 
that he devoted to the hedge came to $26. 
Those who would see hedging successfully 
practiced, not as a matter of rural adornment, 
but as one of farm economy, should visit Kent 
Co., Maryland, and Kent Co., Delaware. 
.— — »■ —m 
The Fraxinella. 
BY CHAItLES DOWNING. 
[In a description of Fraxinella, given last 
August, we referred to a horticulturist with 
whom the plant is a great favorite. "We had in 
mind Mr. Charles Downing, whose experience 
with herbaceous plants is more extensive than 
that of any one of our acquaintance. Mr. 
Downing kindly supplements our article with 
the following interesting notes. — Ed.] 
"In your notice of the Fraxinella, in the 
August number, you state that it does not pro- 
duce seed very abundantly. I have always 
found it in quantity, but it should be gathered 
before fully ripe, because the seed-vessels, when 
quite ripe, burst, and the seed is lost. Sow it 
as soon as ripe, or soon after, in the open 
ground, and on the approach of winter cover it 
an inch or two deep with dry muck or some rub- 
bish, to prevent the frost from throwing out the 
seed. This covering should be removed when 
the seed begins to vegetate in the spring. 
Plants grown from seed do not. flower until 
three or four years old, but they are better than 
those grown from divisions of the root. 
" The statement that the resinous secretion of 
the plant will burn is true, as I know from ex- 
perience. "When the plant is in flower apply 
of a damp evening a light to the lower part of 
the flower spike, and the resinous matter will 
burn with a flash. This will succeed with each 
cluster only once the same season, as the com- 
bustible matter is burned off." 
Notes from the Pines. 
The "Weather. — It has rained every three 
days, or else there have been three rains in one 
day, and nothing flourishes but weeds. Light, 
sandy soil has been kept so wet, that moss and 
other low forms of vegetation form a green film 
upon it. Egg-plants grow as large as a bushel 
basket, and do not give a fruit; tomatoes decay 
before they are fully ripe ; melons and squashes 
are all vines and no fruit, and sweet-potato 
plants find so much to do above ground, that 
they can not attend to their proper business. 
Things looked so badly, that I hardly cared to 
go about the garden. Just about at the worst 
of it I chanced to visit the garden of a million- 
aire, who was able, if he chose to do it, to put 
a man ou every square rod of ground and- tell 
him to keep it clean. This gentleman's garden 
was so much more weedy than mine, that I came 
home quite contented. 
Lima Beans. — For two years my Limas have 
been well-nigh a failure. Last year I used some- 
body's superphosphate, aud this year the Com- 
munipaw Plant-food. These are good fertilizers 
for most things, but they are very bad for Limas. 
Good stable-manure is the thing for them. 
AsPARAors Bean. — I never happened to 
grow this bean before the present year, and only 
regret that I put in so few. It is a pole-bean, 
and bears a very long pod. As a snap or string 
bean, it proves most delicious, cooking with a 
tender marrowness that is delightful. 
The Trophy Tomato. — Last year I was 
obliged to report a perfect failure with the 
Trophy. I took unusual pains with it, and 
trained my plants to single stakes. The fruit 
clusters were so heavy, that they bent and con- 
stricted the stem which held them to that degree 
that circulation was stopped, or so far checked 
that as soon as the fruit attained its full size it 
decayed instead of ripening. This year I tried 
several methods of training. That which has 
given the best results, or at least as good as any, 
has been no training at all. After the brush for 
the early peas had served its purpose, it was 
gathered into fagots and laid alongside of the 
tomato vines, which were allowed to sprawl 
about at will, and only had their over-luxuriance 
held in check by an occasional pinching. Such 
abundance and such excellence of fruit com- 
pensated for last year's disappointment. 
My Big Pear-Tree. — When I came upon 
the place I found a large pear-tree, some twenty- 
five or more feel, high, and reputed worthless. 
For the last two years it fully sustained its 
reputation. Early in September it would shed 
its foliage, leaving a great quantity of the most 
miserable cracked and forlorn-looking fruit 
imaginable. No baking nor stewing would 
soften their obdurate hearts, and when asked 
what kind of a pear that was I always answered, 
"Cast-iron." Iu the press. of other matters I 
failed to graft it. "When I was able to go out 
this spring, I found that the housemaid, to save 
a few steps, had all through the winter thrown 
the chamber slops at the foot of this tree. So 
freely bad they been used, that the grass all 
around was killed. I almost hoped that the 
tree bad been killed also, but it took on an un- 
usual appearance of health. The foliage and 
the fruit looked quite different from what they 
had ever done before, and upon examining the 
tree a few days ago I found that I had some 
bushels of Duchesse of a very fair size, and 
which had they been thinned would have been 
very fine. So much for this accidental manur- 
ing. Before that, Van Mons himself would not 
have recognized the tree as a Duchesse. 
Grapes. — "What an amount of abuse lias 
fallen to the share of those of us who have ad- 
vocated the Concord ! "While we have freely 
admitted that the fruit is not by any means of 
the first class, wc have claimed that fruit of a 
moderate quality was much better than none, 
and held that if a person wished grapes, he 
should plant the Concord to rely upon, and then 
experiment with as many others as he chose. 
There are my vines, some thirty or forty vari- 
eties; the Concords are loaded with fruit, the 
foliage perfect, and almost all the rest so much 
injured by mildew as to be unable to ripen their 
fruit. What seems the strangest, is that the 
Croton and Senasqua, which are more thoroughly 
foreign than any others in my collection, should 
be completely exempt from mildew, and that 
pure natives on either side of them are almost 
ruined. About the meanest grape in my soil is 
the Salem. I know it does splendidly else- 
where, but I have a four-year-old vine and 
some younger ones that are the poorest apolo- 
gies for vines that one need wish to see. Much 
talk was made about the Black Hawk a few 
3 - ears ago. My vines have fruited this year, 
and a miserable foxy thing it is. It is worse 
than the Martha, which is high dispraise. 
Vine Insects. — The heavy rains seem to have 
been unfavorable to the development of insects. 
The cabbage pest, which began the season in 
such a threatening manner, is scarcely to be 
found, and grape-vines have been nearly free 
of insects; for weeks I have not seen a Vine 
Fretter or "Thrips." The fall "Web-worm 
