AMERICAN. AGRICULTURIST. 
103 
HEDGES. 
A good hedge is a good thing. Men 
have thought so for several thousand years. 
A great while ago, “ a certain householder 
planted a vineyard, and hedged it round 
about.” A long while ago, Homer tells 
us that “ when Ulysses returned from Troy 
to his father Laertes, after many years 
absence, the good old man had sent his 
servants into the woods to gather young 
thorns for forming hedges, and while occupying 
himself in preparing the ground to receive them, 
his son asked him, “ Why, being now so far ad. 
vanced in years, he would put himself to the 
fatigue of planting that which he was never 
likely to enjoy !” Laertes, taking him for a 
stranger, gently replied : “ I plant against my son 
IJlysses comes home.” Hedges form an impor¬ 
tant feature in every ancient rural scene which 
painting or poetry has transmitted to us. The 
literature of England, especially, abounds in allu¬ 
sions to them. 
We think hedges are as desirable now as they 
ever were. They have not yet been planted as 
extensively in this country as in Europe, partly 
because of the abundance and cheapness of fenc¬ 
ing timber, and partly because hedge plants have 
not yet been found exactly suited to our soil and 
varying climate. But the time has now come 
when fencing material, both of wood and stone, 
is expensive, an£ in some parts of the country 
difficult to obtain. This is the case especially on 
the Western prairies. Wooden fences, more¬ 
over, are continually decaying, and require no 
little time and money to keep them in repair. 
For gardens and orchards, they are not a suffi¬ 
cient protection against thieving boys, pigs and 
poultry. They are objectionable, also, on the 
score of taste, while nothing is so beautiful for 
ts purpose, as a verdant, well-kept hedge. 
•When a hedge is once grown,” says Downing, 
the small trouble of annual trimming costs not 
a whit more (does it not cost less!) than the ave¬ 
rage expense of repairs on a wooden fence, and 
then it is an everlasting fence, its freshness 
and verdure are renewed with every vernal re¬ 
turn of the flower and leaf.” Supposing our 
readers somewhat interested in the subject, we 
will now give a few notes on the plants princi¬ 
pally used for hedges in this country. 
Hawthorn. —It was but natural that we should 
cherish a strong prelerence for this plant, asso¬ 
ciated as it has always been with the farms and 
gardens of our father-land. It is, moreover, a 
beautiful shrub, grows rapidly and compactly, and 
is so well armed with thorns that it answers, in 
this respect, most purposes of a strong fence. A 
full-grown hedge can be formed with it in five 
years. When planted in good soil, not wet, and 
not very rich, it grows well for several seasons, 
and promises to make a good hedge. But very 
often, after the labor of five or six years has been 
expended on it, and it stands a smooth, verdant 
wall, the just pride of its owner, insects fall upon 
its leaves and branches, or the borer attacks its 
roots, and it is virtually destroyed The entire 
hedge may not perish, but it dies out in sections, 
leaving unsightly gaps here and there, to be filled 
up with still more unsightly boards, rails, or dead 
brush. We know of a single township where the 
loss of hawthorn hedges by a sudden attack of in¬ 
sects was estimated to have been greater than if 
all the dwellings had been attacked by fire. Beau¬ 
tiful and excellent as this plant is in most re¬ 
spects, we fear it cannot he relied upon as a per¬ 
manent, unfailing fence. 
Newcastle,Washington, and Cockstur Thorns. 
—These plants have been tried in various parts of 
the country, and, in many places, are found to 
sutler less from the vicissitudes of the climate 
than the English Hawthorn. Yet the same radi¬ 
cal defect attaches to them as to all plants of the 
same natural order (the apple, thorn, &c.), viz.: 
they are subject to assaults of the borer. Who 
among our readers will immortalize himself by 
devising some means of exterminating this pest 1 
Berberry. —This will make a tolerable hedge, 
if well-managed when young. It is hardly stub¬ 
born enough to turn cattle. Its tendency to sucker 
is an objection to it. The opinion, quite prevalent 
in some quarters, that it causes blight or mildew 
on grain crops growing near it, is groundless. 
Siberian Crab. —This is a member of the apple 
family, and is often planted as a small ornamental 
tree, desirable both for its flowers and fruit. It is 
not a thorn tree, exactly, but when pruned, its 
branches become stiff and crabbed, so much so as 
to furnish a formidable resistanoe to the attacks 
of man or beast. It needs shearing only once in 
a year, and takes good care of itself the rest of 
the time. In the Spring, its flowers are quite 
ornamental, and in the Fall, its fruit is hardly 
less so. 
Cherokee Rose. —For the Southern States, this 
forms a good hedge. We have seen it when in 
full bloom, and shall not soon forget the splendid 
floral spectacle it presented, and the fragrance 
with which it filled the air. It is well equipped 
with sturdy thorns. Wo to the man or beast that 
attempts to get over or through a hedge formed of 
it! Unfortunately, it is too tender for Northern 
Winters. 
Honey Locust. —For a farm hedge, this will 
answer a good purpose. The principal objections 
to it are, that it grows too rampant, requires fre¬ 
quent pruning and splashing, and, at best, is 
coarse and straggling. For an outside barrier, 
where ornament is of no account, it is well worthy 
of trial. 
Osage Orange. —Here, we have one of the 
most popular hedge-plants in America. It is 
clothed with glossy and beautiful foliage; it 
grows as freely as a willow, bears the shears well, 
and i 3 armed with a regiment of thorns. It does not 
suffer from attacks of the borer or insects. It has 
been planted extensively at the West, and in most 
localities is said to answer every purpose of a farm- 
hedge. By many cultivators, it is feared that it 
will not prove sufficiently hardy for the Northern 
States. Above 40® or 41® North latitude, it is 
badly cut down in Winter. Being a native of Ar¬ 
kansas, this is not to be wondered at On the 
other hand, it is contended that if the soil is well 
drained, the plant will prove hardy enough as far 
North as Vermont. What if the tops are a little 
frost-bitten, it does no harm, and only saves so 
much labor in the Spring pruning. Jack Frost 
works lor nothing. Its friends are enthusiastic in 
its praise, declaring that, if well trimmed, it grows 
hardier every year, and that wherever the Isabella 
grape or the peach ripens, it will make the best 
hedge in the world : it is unrivalled in the density 
and stubbornness of its branches and thorns ; the 
smallest bird cannot fly through it; horses, mules, 
cows, sheep, and unruly boys who wish an un¬ 
broken skin, are glad to keep on their own side of 
it. Our own opinion is, that it will prove a good 
hedge-plant for the Middle and Western States, at 
least in the milder portions of those States, but 
it cannot be relied upon for Northern latitudes. 
Privet. —In this plant we have the material for 
making a very handsome screen. "It grows easily 
from seeds or cuttings, is perfectly hardy, and free 
from insects. Its buds push out early in Spring, 
and its leaves hang on until mid-Winter, making 
it almost an evergreen. It lacks thorns, and 
therefore cannot be relied upon for an outside 
fence. For ornamental purposes, to conceal 
wooden palings, or to divide gardens and pleasure 
grounds, it is very desirable. 
Buckthorn. —Have we here a perfect hedge- 
plant for the Northern States ! Some think so. 
That it is hardy, no one doubts. It grows in all 
kinds of soil ; does not sucker; is not, to our 
knowledge, liable to insects or any kind of dis¬ 
ease ; grows rapidly, and yet needs clipping but 
once in a year, and it lives to a good old age. The 
only objection brought against it is, that it is not 
sufficiently thorny to turn cattle of every descrip¬ 
tion. Indeed, it has very few thorns when young, 
but these increase with the age of the plant, and 
in proportion to the frequency of the shearing. 
The flavor of its leaves is so offensive to cattle, 
that they never wish to taste it a second time. 
Mice will not gnaw its bark. It grows under the 
shade and drip of trees better than most other 
hedge-plants. 
Evergreens for Hedges.— Our space will not 
permit us to speak in detail of these, nor of a few 
other deciduous hedge-plants sometimes used, 
such as the Beech, Hornbeam; Japan Quince, 
Prickly Ash, European Bramble, &c. There can 
be no more beautiful screen to divide ornamental 
grounds than the Hemlock ; the Arbor Vitse and 
Red Cedar are also excellent for the same pur¬ 
pose, but neither of them will prove a sufficient 
defence against cattle. If a thick row of these 
trees is strengthened by a wire fence on the ex¬ 
posed side, it will make a good protection. It is 
contended by some experienced hedge-growers 
from Northern Europe, that the Norway Spruce, 
planted two feet apart, and well sheared, will 
make as good a hedge as the Hawthorn. It is so 
used in Denmark. They are set out when young, 
one foot or eighteen inches apart, in single rows, 
and kept pruned to about five feet high, and they 
give perfect satisfaction. Why should not this 
plant have a fair trial in this country! It is now 
raised from seed, and imported in large quanti¬ 
ties, and can be bought at a moderate price. If 
the American Holly were not so difficult to grow 
and manage, we should hope much from it as a 
hedge-plant. Its stiff and thorny leaves would 
make it impenetrable, and its beauty both of leaf 
and berry, in Winter as well as Summer, would 
recommend it to uniyersal adoption. Experi¬ 
ments are now being tried with it in various parts 
of the country, and when the results are known, 
we shall hasten to chronicle them. 
CLOVER SEED-PLASTER, 
Mr. Henry Bidwell, of Ohio, writes : 
On the 5th of last July, I cut 15 acres of grass 
—red clover, with a sprinkling of Timothy— 
gathering 43 two-horse wagon loads, which we 
estimated at a ton each. The ground is a mod¬ 
erately heavy loam, which was seeded with clo¬ 
ver and timothy, upon Winter wheat, in the 
Spring of 1855, and pastured after harvest. Last 
Spring, (1856,) I sowed four bushels of Plaster of 
Paris to the acre, as a top-dressing. One si rip 
through the centre of the field, a rod in width, 
was left unplastered. On this plot the clover was 
scarcely two-thirds as large as on the other por¬ 
tions. The hay was stacked by itself, the outside 
of the stack being finished off with straight Timo¬ 
thy hay. We have just sold the hay, by weight, 
at $9 per ton of 2,000 pounds, and received 
$364 50 for the 40£- tons, or $24 30 per acre. 
But I am not done with that field yet. The 
cattle were not allowed to run upon it, and in 
September I cut the after-math, or second-growth, 
for seed, and threshed out 58 bushels and three 
pecks of excellent clover seed, which we sold 
three weeks since for $7 25 per bushel, or $426, 
being equal to $28 40 per acre, and making the 
total cash product $52 70 per acre for one y^ar. 
I value the clover straw left after threshing out 
the seed, as worth at least $2 30 per acre, which 
giver a gross product of $55 per acre. I estimate 
that $10 per acre will cover the expense of hay¬ 
making, threshing the seed, &c , but, including 
the cost of the plaster sown, we will call it $15 
per acre, which leaves a net profit of $40 per 
acre, equivalent to 10 per cent, on $400. You 
can put this down as one answer to the oft-re¬ 
peated inquiry “Will Farming Pay!” 
P. S —I should add that on the portion left un¬ 
plastered, the deficiency in the yield of clover seed 
was still more marked than in the first hay cutting 
