864 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[October, 
like a mound, so as to shed rain, more or less. 
In the siJring remove this by degrees, and the 
plants will come put in first-rate condition. 
- I ---i— 
Hedges and Hedge Plants—2d Article. 
THE SWT3ET VIBURNUM. 
In the article last month, it was stated that we 
had made, little progress with hedging in this 
country, until native plants were 
taken for the purpose. There 
are doubtless many shrubs that 
are capable of forming good 
hedges, which have not yet been 
tested. The subject of the present 
article is one we have long 
thought would make a good 
hedge plant, but we did not know 
that it had been tried, until we 
received the subjoined commu¬ 
nication from a valued corre¬ 
spondent, who is a great lover 
and close observer of trees and 
shrubs. The Sweet Viburnum, 
Viburnum Lentago, is quite com¬ 
mon all over the country, and 
often forms a small tree, fifteen 
or twenty feet high, covered in 
IMay and June with clusters of 
white flowers, like those shown 
in the engraving. The flowers 
are succeeded by a small, one- 
seeded, berry-like fruit, blue-black 
in color, and ripe in autumn. 
The shrub belongs to the same 
genus as the common Snow-ball, 
but has all its flowers perfect, 
while in the Snow-ball, all or part 
are sterile, and very much larger. 
As an ornamental shrub it is 
worthy of more attention than 
has yet been bestowed upon it. 
“AVhoever travels in West¬ 
chester Corrnty in the last half of 
Maj", notices the Dog-woods in 
full bloom, and not less their 
companions in whiteness and 
beauty, the ‘Nanny-berries.’ It 
is known as the Sweet Vibur¬ 
num, and in other localities as the Sheep-berry, 
probably from the fact that it flourishes in sheep 
pastures in spite of all the shortening-in it gets 
from those close nibblers. The goat is supposed 
to give it its name ‘ Nanny-berry,’ and it is one 
of the best certificates of its extreme hardiness 
and vitality, that in highways and pastures it 
survives all the croppings of the goat, which 
makes a clean sweep of briars and most other 
shrubs. It was itsjow bushy head, formed un¬ 
der such treatment perhaps, that first suggested 
its use as a hedge plant. It is certainly one of 
the best of all deciduous shrubs for that pur¬ 
pose, and nothing but its commonness and 
cheapness can prevent it from having a rapid 
run and wide spread popularity for hedges. 
A good deciduous hedge plant is still a desid¬ 
eratum. The Hawthorn, which is the glory of 
English hedges, and so prominent a feature in 
their landscapes, does not do well in our more 
fervid summers. We have never seen a good 
one this side of the Atlantic. The Osage Orange 
has many admirable qualities, but is not entirely 
hardy in all parts of the North. The Privet 
and Buckthorn, among the best, are very slow 
growers, and tax the patience of the planter. 
Nothing that we are acquainted with meets 
all the requisites of a good hedge plant so com¬ 
pletely as this neglected bush. It is a beautiful 
thing, cultivated simply as a flowering shrub, 
standing solitary beside the walk or carriage 
drive, or in masses in the midst of the lawn. 
Unlike the Dog-wood, its flowers will bear the 
closest examination, and a shallow dish filled 
with these flowers and leaves, is one of the most 
attractive ornaments of the center table in the 
month that boasts so much of floral beauty. 
Then it is a very hardy plant, thriving under 
SWEET VIBURNUSr. 
neglect, and bearing any reasonable amount of 
shearing. In the hands of the gardener it is as 
plastic as the Box or the Yew, and may be 
moulded into any desirable shape. Planted in 
good soil and properly trained, it makes a thick 
hedge, impervious to the light, and strong 
enough to turn cattle.—It is easily multiplied 
from the seed, old pastures and woodlands 
abounding in young plants that have been sown 
by birds and cattle. In the neighborhoods where 
the shrub is already established, plants suitable 
for hedges are readily procured from the pas¬ 
tures. Those growing in the open ground, and 
that have been subjected to the severe cropping 
of the sheep and goats, are to be preferred. 
In the grounds of R. L. Franklin, of River- 
dale, maybe seen a hedge of this plant only five 
years out. It is as perfect a specimen of live 
fence as can be found around any of our subur¬ 
ban residences, and that is saying much. As 
an example of the capabilities of the Sheep- 
berry for a hedge plant we regard that hedge 
as a great success.” 
We have no doubt that the plant will be valuable 
in the Northern sections of the country, though 
Mr. Meehan, who gives great attention to hedge- 
plants, informs us that near Philadelphia it has 
a somewhat rusty appearance in mid-summer. 
Make Cuttings in Autumn. 
A number of our hard-wooded plants are most 
easily progagated from cuttings. Among those 
most commonly multiplied in this manner from 
mature wood, are the currant, gooseberry, quince, 
grape, rose, etc., and it is probable that many of 
our ornamental shrubs, not usually propagated 
in this way, will succeed if properly treated. 
Any one who has ever watched the progress 
made by a cutting will have 
found, that before any roots ap¬ 
pear, there is a sort of growth go¬ 
ing on. After the cutting has 
been for a greater or less time in 
the soil, there appears at the cut 
surface, and often at other points 
above it, an irregular whitish 
growth, which, if it occurred in 
the human subject, we should 
call “proud flesh,” and that final¬ 
ly roots are pushed from this 
growth, which in gardener’s lan¬ 
guage is called a “ callus." When 
a twig is cut from the parent 
plant and placed in favorable soil, 
it puts forth an efibrt to live and 
form a new plant. It is without 
roots, through which to take up 
nourishment, and although it 
may apparently be vigorous for 
a while, aud push out a new 
grow'111 of stem and leaves, these 
are only produced at the expense 
of the material already stored up 
in the cutting, and after a brief 
season it dies. It is only when 
the cutting makes a root that it 
lives, and the first step towards 
making a root is the formation 
of the callus above mentioned; 
and this, like the leaf growth 
first alluded to, is formed at the 
expense of material on hand in 
the tissues of the tw'ig or cutting. 
If this material be expended in 
leaf growth, as a general thing, 
no roots will be formed, hence it 
is the object of the propagator 
to induce the formation of a cal¬ 
lus and roots rather than of stems and leaves. 
When artificial heat is used, the operator has the 
matter quite under his control, as he has only 
to keep the soil some degrees warmer than the 
air above it. In out of door propagation, in 
which our readers are most interested, these 
conditions are best attained by setting the cut¬ 
tings in autumn, as then the soil is warmer than 
the atmosphere, aud the callus (and even roots 
in some cases) forms before severe W'eather sets 
in. Cultivators W'ell know that if a cutting be 
once callused, it is pretty sure to grow', and it 
often happens, if cuttings be made in fall aud be 
kept in moist sand or sandy soil, out of the 
reach of severe cold, that the functions of vege¬ 
tation W'ill go on, and a callus be slowly formed, 
which, when the cutting is set out in the spring, 
quite surely emits roots. Quince cuttings done 
up into bundles, with their low'er ends dipped 
for one third their length in thin mud, may be 
set in the cellar and occasionally w'atered. 
These will callus finely during the w'inter, and 
be ready to set in spring. Other cuttings would 
doubtless succeed w'lth the same treatment. In 
setting cuttings of any kind, the soil should be 
firmly pressed about their lower ends, and at¬ 
tention to this will often determine success or 
failure. Currant, gooseberry, quince, and the 
