SOUTHERN CULTIVATOR. 
SoO 
THE OSAGE ORAIJGE FOR KEDGIHG— -MODE OF 
CULTURE, TRIMMING, ETC., ETC. 
Wr were just preparing an article on this subject (in 
accordance with our promise of last month,) when we were 
favored with the following excellent letter from our friend, 
11. W, Pitkin, Esq., who is well known as one of the 
pioneers and most earnest advocates of Hedging, in this 
country. We cheerfully give place to it, and commend its 
suggestions to all who would substitute beautiful, pcrma- 
nc7it and protective hedges for the perishable and unsightly 
xig-zag rail fences in common use After some general 
remarks, Mr. P. says : 
“The enterprise [hedging] has never looked more encour- 
aging then it does this year. I have never seen the hedges 
in the West look so beautifully and thriving be.fore. Last 
season was ahard one, and tested their capability of endur- 
ing drouth. And it was remarked by all, that when every- 
thing wnis dried up. the hedges did rjot seem to suffer. In 
the hist 4 months, i have probably viov/ed some 300 miles 
of hedge in various stages of giowth and perfection. 1 
hiive never yet seen a person in any latitude who has 
properly sgi good plants on i'ood soil, cultivated and trimm- 
ed properly, who is not only pleased, but yierfectiy charm- 
ed with the result. There is nothing on a firm which the 
proprietor takes move jileasure in showing than liis hedge. 
With the right treatment, a liedge can niways be turned 
out in August of the 4th season, or three and a half years 
from the setting. Many persons, have tried to raise tlie 
bug bear, that hedges required suc'i peculiar care and at- 
tention tliat common farmers would never succeed in 
growing tliem. Wiiy, sir, some of tlie finest hedges I have 
seen this year were made by plain ipen, who had little but 
common-sense to guide them, and . certainly nvuiliipg 
themselves of others’ expedience., with directions, plain and 
simple, for thei^’ guidance. Otjjer iTi,en of gobci common 
sense can do the samn thing. The great secret to com- 
{ffete success in hed,ge- making lies in doing the work well 
and at the proper time. 
1st. Prepare your ground for the hedge row, by plow- 
ing a strip 1 0 feet wide (or 8 feet will do) and plow it 
deep — no matter how deep — and su'osoil beiow tluit if pos- 
sible. Not one man in five who set.s a hedge, prepares 
lii.s ground thoroughly. If the soil is poor, make it rich. 
2d. bet your plants cZa.s't'/?/ — not more than six inche.s 
apart There i^ little danger of crowding them. It is 
vastiv easier to fill up spaces with trunks than brandies. 
All the most experienced Hedge-growers now advocate 
close a»:‘tting. Some of them even contend for 4 inches as 
the proper dista^tce. [Right or ten inches is clo.se enough, 
on good land, in the South. — Eos.] 
3d. See that every nlant grows, or if any fa]l to grow, 
he .Nto’e to set another right in. Fur this purpose, there 
should always be some plants in reserve. Nothing is 
more unsightly than ;i hedoe I'nii oi’ gaps. It is an ea.sy 
m itter to fill them at the proper lime ; luit extremely diffi- 
cult wlieti neglected for a year two. Whatever else you 
to do in making vour hedge, do not fail the second 
spring to go over it and fill up every vacant space with 
a good sni-ong plant. Neglect here, is fatal to our com- 
plete success. 
4th. Cultivate on botli sides of the row, f. e., plow and 
hoe it as well as you would a row of corn, 
5th. Trim so as to give your hedge the triangular siiape. 
When finished, the base to be three and a half feet wide, 
and the sides six feet high. By giving it this shape all 
the branches, from the bottom to the top, have an equal 
chance at the air, the light and the rain ; and the bottom 
will not thin out for the want of them, as it is likely to do 
when given the perpendicular shape. The first season do 
not cut at all ; we want to get a strong root formed, and 
this we ean do only by letting the top grow for a season. 
The second spring, or one year from the setting, cut all 
down as close to the ground as you can mow them. In 
May, cut three inches above. Third spiring, or two years 
from setting, cut six inches above the May cutting, or 
nine inches from the ground. In May, cut nine inches 
above that. 
Fourth spring, xiut twelve inches above the May cut- 
ting, or thirty inches from the ground, and in May fifteen 
inches above this. By August, this season, your hedge 
will turn stock. A short scythe will be found as good an 
implement to trim with as any. Let it rest upon the right 
hand, and as you walk along cut half way to the centre 
of the row. Come back on the other side, and cut the 
other half in the same way. The ground branches should 
be cut very sparingly, as the object is to have them spread 
out on the ground and become strong and thorny. 
Tlie labor of trimming hedges we find much less than 
was at first anticipated. An active man will clip a mile 
in a day, and as two cuttings is all that is required in a 
year, it will be perceived that the expense is less than the 
keeping up of any other fence. 
I did not thinic of writing an article for your paper when 
I commenced ; but what I liave written is at your service. 
Truly yours, H. W. Pitkin. 
mSECTS PESTS IN THE GARDEN AND ORCHARD- 
REPLY TO ‘‘QUARO.” 
Editors Sopthern Cultivator — Your correspondent, 
“Quaro,” on page 321 of the Cultivator, presents a de- 
plorable account of want of success in his horticultural 
elTorts. I, too, have experienced, to some extent, the dif- 
ficulties of wlijch he co^rnplains, and been almost wholly 
disappointed in rny turnip crop, thrsfall, occasioned by the 
jravages of an insect. It had bejm my intention to trouble 
you with an article — perhaps two or three — upon the 
habits of certain insects which infect our gardens, and offer 
suggestion from my own experience, in the way of remedy. 
My absence from liome, and not having my notes at hand, 
will prevent my doing so, at least until spring. 
I will, however, say a few v/ords to “Qu.aro,” on some 
of tire remedies whicli I have met with in the columns of 
the Cultivator, and elsewhere, and reduced to practice with 
somewhat variable ^success, and submit, also, a few sug- 
gestions original wilii myself. 
I cultivate Calhiagc, liberally in my gardens and devote 
more attention to them than, perhaps, any otiier vegetable. 
Persons whose means of observation are more extended 
(halt my own assure me tliat tliey meet with no better 
sampies of lliat vegetable anywliere, Buncombe included. 
1 have weigiied sunivur cabbage this season ten and lialf 
[lounds, clean heads. My winter variety reach often fif- 
teen to seventeen and a half pounds. Notwitlistanding 
tlie bugs, I known no reason wliy “Qoaro” should not 
grow the same at Selma, Ala., with similar treatment and 
gniat seed. It may be proper for me to remark, that I plant 
seed of my own growili, wiiich have been cultivated by 
my gardener for nineteen or twenty years, and greatly 
jiterer them to all others. 
Of rny mode of culture, it will be unnecessary to speak 
here. Should your correspondent desire it, 1 will furnish 
it to him, cheerfully, at another time. 
In a systematic war of extermination on the insect tribes, 
I woulvi reco.mmend him to begin with confidence and a 
full determination to give them no quarter. Let him buy 
several dozen common black porter bottles (I get them at 
20 cents a dozen) ; tie a string or wire in a loop around 
the neck of each, and hang them along the garden fence 
