4.03 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[November, 
Hedges and Hedge Plants. Article:) 
THE OSAGE ORANGE AND BARBERRY. 
It is not necessary to advocate the Osage 
Orange as a hedge plant. It has probably been 
more extensively planted than all others, and 
wherever the winters are not too severe, it is 
one of our most valuable fence plants. In the 
present article we merely wish to say a word 
Scattered Trea¬ 
sures. 
ish white, slightly coarse grained, very juicy 
and melting—sweet and rich, and when well 
ripened, with a delicate perfume. Season, from 
first to middle of September. The engraving is 
from an average specimen. With proper thin¬ 
ning, the fruit would doubtless be much larger. 
Tea Eoses—Mareohal Niel. 
Most of us can recollect when a Tea-rose was 
a great rarity; now they are among the most 
common of roses. 
They are deserv¬ 
edly popular, for 
they are such free 
bloomers, and the 
beauty of their 
flowers, and the 
delicacy of their 
fragrance com¬ 
mend them to all. 
It is true they are 
tender and require 
to be protected 
from the severity 
of our winters— 
but those who re¬ 
ally love roses will 
not mind this. 
Some of the more 
hardy Tea-roses, 
such as Safrano, 
may be laid down 
and covered with 
earth, in the man¬ 
ner described by 
Mr. Henderson, in 
September last, 
and it is probable 
that in favorable 
situations, all but 
the very delicate 
ones may be win¬ 
tered in this way. 
Those too tender 
to be risked out 
under a covering 
of earth, may be 
potted and put 
in a cool green-house or cellar. Among the 
new Tea-roses none has received more univer¬ 
sal approbation among European cultivators 
than the Marechal Niel. It is a seedling of M. 
Pradel, of Montauban, France, and was flower¬ 
ed this summer for the first time in this countiy. 
We saw a fine lot of it in the grounds of Mr. 
Peter Henderson, and took a specimen from 
which the engraving is made. We can only 
show the form of the bud and partly open flow¬ 
er, while the flne yellow color must be left to 
the imagination. The expanded flowers are 
large and full—but like those of other trees— 
less beautiful than when they are only partly 
opened. The foliage is good, the habit of the 
plant vigorous, and it is a very free bloomer. 
In Prance, it is regarded as one of the hardiest 
of its class, but with us it will require the ex¬ 
perience of this winter to prove it in this respect. 
about the young plants and seeds, to give a gen¬ 
eral answer to numerous letters of inquiry. 
There was a large quantity of seed sown last 
spring and many will lose their plants from not 
knowing that the first winter is usually very 
severe upon them—especially in ground liable 
to be thrown by the frost. The proper way is 
to take up all the seedlings when frost has 
checked the growth. The bed is usually mowed 
over, to remove the immature tops, and the 
plants are either plowed out, or if the quantity 
MARECHAL NIEL. 
is small, dug by the spade. The plants are then 
assorted, all of the same size put together and 
tied in bundles of 100. To preserve them dur¬ 
ing the winter, they may be placed in the cellar 
and covered with sand, sandy earth, or saw¬ 
dust fresh from the mill. Anything that will 
keep them from drying and not be too wet, will 
answer. The plants may also be heeled-in out 
of doors, if a properly drained place be select¬ 
ed. Thus treated, the jilauts winter safely, and 
the assorting, which is always necessary to se¬ 
cure evenness in the hedge, is done more at 
leisure than it can be in spring. With regard 
to seed, in Texas and Arkansas, where the tree 
grows naturall}'', the fruit, when ripe, is thrown 
into heaps to rot, and the seeds are washed from 
the pulp. This does well enough where the 
season is long enough to mature the fruit on the 
tree. At the North there are many old hedges 
and trees also, that bear fruit, which, though it 
attains its full size, does not ripen upon the tree. 
With this fruit a different course must be fol- 
loM’ed. The seect must have an opportunity to 
perfect itself within the fruit. The fruit is in 
size and shape like an orange, and in structure 
much like an enormous round mulberry. Each 
seed is surrounded by fleshy envelopes, which, 
though the seed may be quite immature when 
the fruit is gathered, serve to nourish and per¬ 
fect it. With the northern fruit it is therefore 
In the natural 
way of things 
the leaves decay 
where they fall, 
and thus return 
to the earth more 
of organic matter 
than the tree takes 
from it. In culti¬ 
vation we do not 
allow things to go 
on in their natur¬ 
al way, but wish 
some portions of 
earth to be unnat¬ 
urally fertile, and 
we accumulate 
manures. Besides, 
in our civilization 
we have certain 
ideas of neatness 
with which fallen leaves conflict, and we gather 
them up because they have a slovenly look that 
offends us. Every leaf should be saved, and if 
not allowed to decay and enrich the ground 
where it falls, it should be made to do good 
service elsewhere. In our country towns and 
villages, so generally planted with shade trees, 
the crop of leaves is blown about and usually 
goes to waste. The careful gardener will be on 
the look out for these “scattered treasures,” and 
gather them all for preservation. Gathering the 
autumn leaves is excellent work for children, 
and men and women need not be ashamed of it, 
for it is merely accepting one of the gifts of a 
bountiful Providence. Leaves are nature’s own 
winter mulch for the wild flowers of the woods, 
and we can have nothing better for our beds 
and borders. For bulbs and all herbaceous 
plants, strawberries, and all things requiring a 
winter covering, the otherwise wasted leaves 
will be found most useful. Then when we come 
to make hot-beds in earlj"- spring, they serve to 
mix with manure in the proportion of one- 
fourth to one-half, and make a better heat: 
ing material than manure alone. And after 
having served this pui’pose, their vitality is not 
exhausted. The old heating material, mixed 
manure and leaves, thoroughly rotted, makes a 
manure that every gardener knows the value of. 
Save the leaves then, there is money in them. 
best to spread it and let it ripen under cover, 
and after the seed is fully developed it may be 
allowed to freeze. The fruit is mashed in spring 
and the seeds are separated by washing. 
The Barberry is now attracting considera¬ 
ble attention as a hedge plant, and since the 
publication of an article in last June, page 213, 
we have inquiries-about the seed. The Barber¬ 
ry is very abundant in New England, especially 
in Massachusetts and Khode Island. The fruit 
is usually to be found in the markets of those 
States. The seed 
may be separated 
by putting the 
berries in water 
and then allowing 
them to stand un¬ 
til softened, when 
they may be rub¬ 
bed between the 
hands, and the 
pulp be washed 
away from the 
heavier seeds. 
