AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
255 
and are perhaps not so well suited to other por¬ 
tions of the country. I have full faith in the plant, 
for hedging purposes ; and think others will have, 
too, when they become fully acquainted with it. 
I am glad to see that many are waking up and 
finding out its true value. Many are trying it, and 
succeeding finely. Good hedges may be seen in 
Logan, Morgan, Menard, McLean, and other coun¬ 
ties of this State. Out of seven hedges I saw, 
(in two counties,) that were much exposed, only 
one was injured by the Winter; and that gave 
signs of having been badly treated. 
Jno. A. Knox 
Walker’s Grove, Mason County, Ill. 
Remarks. —We thank Mr. Knox, for his defence 
of the plant, and especially for his particular di¬ 
rections regarding cultivation. It should be 
borne in mind, however, that Mason County, Ill., 
is in about the latitude of 40°, which is the paral- 
ell of Philadelphia. A large portion of the pra- 
rie country of Illinois and Iowa, where hedges are 
most needed, are north of that latitude. We think, 
moreover, that the experience of others, no fur¬ 
ther north than 40°, proved that the Osage Orange 
would not endure cold like that of the past two 
Winters. Let us have full returns on this point. 
In the hands of such skillful men as Mr. K. ap¬ 
pears to be, the trouble of planting and annual 
cultivation is less than we have estimated it for 
the general mass of farmers. 
FURTHER ON THE OSAGE 
ORANGE. 
Since putting the above article in type, we 
have had sundry notes on the same topic, and we 
find most of the journals in Northern Illinois, 
Iowa and Wisconsin, are pretty unanimous in a 
want of faith in the hardiness of the Osage Or¬ 
ange. The “Spirit ol the Agricultural Press,” pub¬ 
lished in Champaign County, Eastern Illinois, 40° 
north latitude, says: 
“ About four years ago the Illinois Central Rail¬ 
road Company contracted with an Ohio firm, for 
building a hedge, on each side of its line, from 
Chicago south, 75 miles nearly, making in all 150 
miles of hedge, which was to fence the line. In 
the course of two or three years the Hedge Com¬ 
pany set from 30 to 50 miles, and then abandoned 
the job, and the hedge remains as they left it—a 
shabby piece of business. We are of opinion that 
the Osage Orange hedge will not, for at least 10 
years to come, prove a fence for Illinois prairies. 
Carefully cultivated, that is, hoed three or four 
times a year, cut down careful yearly, and fenced, 
and protected from prairie fires, the Osage Or¬ 
ange makes a fence, which for strength, beauty 
and durability, cannot be matched or exceeded. 
If left without cultivation, its failure to make a 
fence, or even a respectable growth, is certain. 
If properly cultivated we should have no fears ol 
Killing by frost south of 41®—north of that line its 
fate would be doubtful. A good fence with posts 
8 feet apart, and 5 boards high, costs our farmers 
from $1 to $1 25 per rod. An Osage Orange 
Hodge will cost twice that sum before it will be 
fit to turn stock—not reckoning the cost of the 
fences you have to make to fence the fence.” 
'■'HE OSAGE ORANGE IN LAW. 
The Ottawa Free Trader, in La Salle County, 
latitude 41° to 41£°,) refers to trouble between 
the farmers thereabouts and the planters of Osage 
Orange hedges. A farmer in that county, on 
the south side of the Illinois River, contracted 
with one of the hedge companies to plant and 
take care ol a hedge for five years, he to pay three- 
tenths the first year, two-tenths the second year, 
and so on. The company planted the hedge a 
year ago last Spring, receiving the first payment. 
Last Winter the hedge was killed out, scafcely a 
plant surviving. The past Spring the company 
reset the hedge and demanded the second pay¬ 
ment ; but the farmer claimed that inasmuch as 
the hedge was totally killed last Winter, the re¬ 
setting this year must count as the first setting, 
for which he had already paid. He non-suited 
the company, but it was on a technical point only, 
so that there was no decision on the merits of 
the question, which is to have a hearing in the 
Circuit Court. There are many farmers in Illi¬ 
nois in a similar condil ion to the one referred to 
above, and we shall look with considerable inter¬ 
est for the final decision. We have had some 
experience of the attempts of large companies to 
impose upon individual farmers, and know how 
to sympathize with the latter. We have a very 
vivid recollection of being “ sued ” for $30 for a 
Fanning Mill, set down on the farm “ for trial,” 
against onr wishes, and almost against even 
our permission. We also remember the chop- 
fallen look of the agent of the “ Fanning 
Mill Company,” as, at the end of the suit, he paid 
his own costs, took away the mill, and paid us five 
dollars and fifty cents for its storage. 
TIMOTHY BUNKER, ESQ., ON A 
JOURNEY. 
His views of Railroads—Farm Improvements — 
Sand Barrens — Swamps — Sorghum. 
Mr. Editor. —I do not know but you have 
thought that my letters to your paper have “ gin 
out,” seeing that I did not write anything the 
past two months. But the fact was, I have been 
off to see what was going on in the world, outside 
of my own farm. You see there are some peo¬ 
ple up here that think Hookertown is in the 
centre of the world exactly, and they haven’t the 
least idea but what the whole world turns round 
on ouraxi^. In fact they believe that the north 
pole runs straight through our meeting-house 
steeple, ana wnat can’t be learned in our parish, 
is not worth knowing. Ned Bottom, a man of 
seventy, was never ten miles from home, and 
never saw a steamboat nor a locomotive. It was 
only last night that he was bragging about it, as 
if it was something to be proud of. “ He had 
never been caught in one of those man-traps. 
Not he 1” 
I suppose it is a fact, that a good many people 
get hurt on the railroads, but I guess not so many 
in proportion to the travel as are injured in the 
old-fashioned way of horse and carriage journey¬ 
ing. I cannot see what Providence has suffered 
such things to be invented for, unless he designs 
folks should use them to find out what the rest of 
the world is made of, and what other people are 
doing. Our minister preached a sermon a while 
ago about “ Many shall run to and fro, and knowl¬ 
edge shall be increased,” and he thought the day 
of the fulfillment of this prophecy had come. 
Now I suppose I don’t hear any too much of ser¬ 
mons, and practice altogether too little. But I 
heard the whole of this, and thought I would ful¬ 
fill my part ol the prophecy, and started off in 
the cars, with my wife, the same week. 
We first went up to Uncle Philip Scranton’s, a 
brother of Sally’s, who lives in Farmdale, over 
east of Hookertown. Connecticut, you know, is 
all cut up into railroads, and has more track to 
the square mile than any other State in the Un¬ 
ion. It is wonderful to see the influence these 
railroads have had upon the farms, wherever I 
have traveled. Almost every farmer lives within 
sound of the whistle, and has a ready market fen 
all he can raise, at the depot or nearest village 
Instead of going off to Providence or Boston, a 
week’s journey, to sell his cheese, butter, and 
poultry, an hour’s ride in the morning brings him 
to a market. He loses little time and gets a 
higher price. This stimulates production, and it 
is wonderful to see the rocky lands, and the 
swamps that have been brought under cultivation 
to meet the increased demand for farm crops. 
Uncle Philip is a farmer of the old school, but 
keeps up with the times better than a good many 
young men. He used to take the old New-Eng 
land Farmer forty years ago, and got a good many 
ideas from Fessenden and others, who sought to 
improve farming in those days. You can see 
where those ideas have been bearing fruit on his 
farm ever since. He reclaimed a swamp by 
ditching, bogging, and covering with gravel, thir 
ty years ago, and it bears near three tons of hay 
to the acre now. 
He has found that it pays to clear up rocky 
fields, so rocky that most lazy men get discour¬ 
aged. He has worked up these rocks into heavy 
stone walls, with a handsome face, and well cap¬ 
ped. He finds these cleared rocky lands just the 
spot for orchards, and some of the finest trees he 
has are upon these reclaimed pastures. It is as¬ 
tonishing to see what a sight of work a man can 
do in a life-time, and what a beautiful homestead 
he can make of rough barren acres. 
He has a nice garden full of fine vegetables, 
which are now in their glory. Up in one corner 
there is a lot of bee-hives, full of music and hon¬ 
ey, setting the owner a good example in the way 
of industry, and rewarding him for his care with 
a bountiful supply of well-filled comb. All around 
the wall he has fruit trees and grape vines, which 
are now loaded with fruit. 
I found a lot of your Sugar Cane up here, and 
indeed I have seen it all through the State where 
I have traveled. One farmer, who had a large 
lot, was going to run it through his cider mill to 
crush the canes, and thought it would answer all 
the purpose of a sugar-mill. Uncle Philip was 
trying his for soiling, and found it to work first- 
rate. He sowed sweet corn along side of it, both 
in drills, and found that the cane gave the most 
fodder, and that the cows would eat it the quick¬ 
est. He says there is almost no end to the amount 
of stock a man can Summer, if he will only sow 
corn or sorghum. He thinks he gets a quarter 
more milk from his cows for this daily fodder. 
He feeds only at noon, every day. He thinks 
this is the best time, because the cows have all 
the morning to eat grass, and then the new kind 
of food offered at noon induces them to eat more. 
The more food you can induce a cow to eat and 
digest, the more milk you will get, and the more 
profit you will find in keeping her. This is one 
of his maxims, and I guess he is right. His stock 
is a mixture of grade Devons and grade Durhams. 
He averages about three hundred pounds of 
cheese to the cow, every year. 
Another of Uncle Philip’s experiments is re¬ 
claiming a sand barren. He had about six acres 
of such poor sandy land that nothing would grow 
on it. It was not worth the taxes paid on it. He 
has put on muck and stable manure in such quan¬ 
tities, that it will now yield forty bushels of corn 
to the acre. I find he has a great idea of muck, 
as all the farmers have in this region. 
In-doors, Uncle Philip’s wife manages things 
quite as well as he does upon the farm. The 
butter and cheese are well made, and the house 
is well kept. I wish the Tribune man, that told 
such stories about country cooking, could have 
set at her table for a week, as we did. The 
coffee and tea were enough sight better than I 
