THE CULTIVATOR. 
127 
Is equally well armed with thorns. Of the native thorn, nine species are 
enumerated by botanists, viz; 
1. Crataegus coccinea, berries large, red and pleasant tasted, and grows 
from Carolina to Canada. Two varieties.—.Ea/ow. 
2. C. pyrifolia, (pear leaved,) grows from Pennsylvania to Carolina, 
west to Michigan.— Beck. 
3. C. populifolia, (poplar leaved,) grows in Pennsylvania, &c. berries 
small and red.— Eaton. 
4. C el/ip/ica —berries oral, 6 seeded, small, red—grows from Canada 
to Carolina.— Beck. 
5. C. G/andufosa, (full of kernels,) fruit scarlet, middle sized, oval, 5 
seeded. Canada and Allegany mountains— lb. 
6. C.flacca , (yellow berried,) grows in Vermont.— Eaton. 
7. C. punctata , two varieties, one having red and other yellow berries. 
Tree dwarfish—grows from Carolina to Georgia.— Beck. 
8. C. crus-galli, fruit small, red, mostly 1 seeded. Long spines—grows 
from Canada to Carolina—several varieties.— Beck. Var. splendens, py- 
racanthifolia, and salisifolia — Eaton. 
9 C. parviflora, (small-flowered,) fruit large, yellow, with 5 bony 1 
seeded nuts—grows four feet high, from Canada to Carolina, in sandy 
woods. 
The C. oxyacantha, or quickset thorn of Europe, has been introduced, 
and used to some extent among us; but we do not think it is so well adapt¬ 
ed to our climate, particularly north oflat. 42°, as our native species. Af¬ 
ter a trial of seven years, we have been obliged to give it up, and have 
substituted native plants in its stead. 
There are besides the foregoing, several other plants, which have been 
recommended, and partially employed in live fences. Among these we 
may name the following; 
1. Red Cedar, recommended by the late John Taylor, of Virginia, 
and others. We have seen this plant in hedge in Maryland, but have ne¬ 
ver seen it make a good hedge. 
2. The Wild Crab, though we have not seen it tried, seems well 
adapted for live fence—being hardy and well armed with spine. 
3. The Honey or Three Thorned Locust, ( Gleditschia tria- 
canthos,) though belonging to the class of large trees, yet by close plant¬ 
ing and judicious clipping, may be kept to a dwarf size. The male plant 
is armed with very long and strong spines, the female plant has fewer and 
smaller spines, and bears an abundance of seeds. The plant is said to be 
indigenous to the country south and west of New-Jersey, and is found to 
be hardy in lat. 42° N. We are experimenting with it as a material for 
hedges, and our confidence in it is becoming stronger as we progress. It 
is ol rapid growth, and will require clipping probably twice in a season. 
It will ultimately make a very strong fence, if properly trained in time. 
4. The Buck Thorn —(Rhamnus catharticus.) This may be term¬ 
ed a small tree, or large shrub, producing an abundance of black berries, 
often used medicinally as a cathartic—not armed with spines, but growing 
very close and compact. We long doubted whether this would make an 
efficient fence, till we were undeceived by a visit to J. H. Derby, Esq. 
of Salem, Mass, where we saw one of the most beautiful and efficient 
hedges that ever met our eye, formed of the Buck thorn. We purchased 
a thousand plants, and now have them in training as a hedge. We appre¬ 
hend it will require a longer time to make of them a strong fence, than 
from the other plants we have enumerated. 
5. Privet or Prim, (Lagustrmn vulgare,) an exotic shrub, growing 
six to eight feet high, without spines, for the last ten years perfectly hardy 
in the neighborhood of Albany—branches very dense, and retaining their 
green foliage often to midwinter; makes a beautiful ornamental hedge 
about court yards and gardens, when symmetrically clipped, and a very 
useful one, in time, if we are to credit the reports of our grandfathers: for 
in olden time, prim hedges were extensively cultivated among us, par¬ 
ticularly on Long Island, in Connecticut, &c. In two towns of Suffolk, 
according to Mr. L’Hommedieu, there were no less than four hundred 
miles of prim and black thorn hedges some sixty years ago. The cause 
of their sudden and general decay, at that time, has never been satisfac¬ 
torily explained; yet we are certain of the fact, that for the last fifteen 
years the prim in this neighborhood has proved perfectly hardy, and has 
not been affected by any disease or insect enemy. It possesses one ad¬ 
vantage overall the other plants we have named: it grows freely from 
cuttings, which may be readily transported hundreds of miles, in winter, 
with safety. 
6. The common Beach is extensively employed in the Netherlands 
for hedges. They are beautiful and strong, the plants being trained al¬ 
ternately right and left, diagonally, resembling lattice work, though the 
labor in training is considerable. Beach mast may be had in any quantity 
in the north, and may be readily transported. 
7. The Osage Orange, (Maclura aurantiaca,) is strongly recom¬ 
mended as a suitable plant for hedges in the southern and middle states. 
Although a native of the south-western states, we are disappointed in not 
finding it noticed by either Eaton or Beck. It forms a tree of the second 
class, is armed with strong spines, and has a tolerable thrifty growth; it 
will not bear our northern winters, but we think may be cultivated south 
of the Highlands, or lat. 40, 
8. The Cherokee Rose, we are told, makes a beautiful hedge in the 
southern states, but we do not learn that it will succeed north of Mary¬ 
land. 
9. The last plant we shall name is the Japan Quince, (Cydonia _ 
formerly Pyrus Japonica.) It is a shrub growing six to eight feet high, 
abundantly^ armed with spines, handsome foliage and splendid scarlet 
flowers—a native, as its name imports, of Japan. The wood is hard and 
the branches close, and after a few years a hedge of it would become 
impervious to cattle and hogs. It is cultivated in shrubberies as an or¬ 
namental plant, on account of its bright scarlet flowers. Another spe¬ 
cies has white flowers. This plant may be rapidly multiplied, by cuttings 
of the root. 
We shall postpone our further remarks upon live fences till our Novem¬ 
ber number, and in the mean time would respectfully invite gentlemen 
who have had experience, in this country, in cultivating hedges, to fur¬ 
nish us with any facts they may possess, and which may assist to enlighten 
the public mind in a matter which is daily becoming more important to 
the American husbandman. 
BONE MANURE. 
Agreeably to our promise, we now proceed to lay before the readers of 
the Cultivator the results of our reading, coupled with our experience, in 
regard to bone manure. 
The bones of domestic animals are found to contain about equal por¬ 
tions of phosphate of lime an 1 gelatine; those of young animals containing 
more of the latter, and the bones of old animals more of the former. The 
gelatine is highly nutritive to plants, and phosphate of lime enters largely 
into the structure of many species. To bring on a decomposition of bones, 
and render their fertilizing properties available to the wants of growing 
crops, it is necessary to crush or grind them—and their immediate bene¬ 
fit is in proportion to their fineness, and rapid decomposition in the soil— 
though ultimately they impart to the soil all their fertilizing properties, if 
they are broken to the size of one, two or three inches. In powder, or 
dust, their effect is at first more powerful, but less abiding. So, too, the 
like happens if the bones are brought into a state of partial fermentation, 
so as to give off a strong odour, by mixing them with lime, or ashes, or 
manure and moisture, before they are applied to the soil, and thereby has¬ 
tening decomposition; and indeed this is the common practice; when it is 
desired to have them produce an immediate effect. To reduce bones to a 
proper size for agricultural purposes, bone mills have been erected, con¬ 
sisting of a series of cast iron rollers, formed with deeply indented rims, 
and teeth progressively more closely fixed. Many British farmers nave 
erected small machines, with two cylinders of cast iron, with teeth, which 
lock into each other, by which they are broken into small pieces. We 
have had more than sixty horse cart-loads of bones, which cost us half a 
dollar a load, crushed in a plaster mill, though not made very fine, for 
which we paid I2£ cents per bushel as toll. The value of bone dust as a 
manure, in Great Britain, may be judged of from the following rates of 
prices, which we quote from one of the most recent agricultural publica¬ 
tions: “ The price commonly averages, for the dust, from 2s. 6d. to 3s. 
and in some late instances even 3s. 6d. have been paid—for pieces [of 
inch, three-quarter inch and half inch] from 2s. to 3s. 6d. according to size 
—and Is. lOd. for rough bones, per imperial bushel.”— Br. Hush. The 
reader will bear in mind, that the English shilling is a fraction over 22 
cents. Prices have not yet attained this high pitch with us. The English 
dealers make no allowance on bones which have gone through the process 
of boiling, through this process evidently deprives them of a portion of 
their oil, and consequently diminishes, in a measure, their enriching pio- 
perties. 
From the experiments detailed in the British books, made with bone 
manure, we abstract the following, as affording evidence of its enriching 
qualities, and of the soil and crops which it most benefits. 
On a poor soil in Yorkshire, which would no longer bear turnips, even 
with tolerable manuring, twelve to twenty bushels bone dust to the acre, 
put in the drills, the turnip crop was rendered excellent, and the follow¬ 
ing crops were much improved. 
Six hundred bushels were spread upon twenty-four acres of dry, sandy, 
gravelly pasture, which had been laid down ten years. The condition of 
the cows kept upon it was so materially increased, that double the quan¬ 
tity of butter was made from them that was made from cows grazed upon 
land of similar quality, but not boned. 
Twenty-five bushels applied to an acre of turnips, brought them above 
ground the third day, and into rough leaf the tenth. On an adjoining acre, 
dressed with twenty-five loads of barn-yard manure, the turnips did not 
appear till the fifth day, and were not fit to hoe before the 20th. 
Mr. Graburn applied thirty bushels to the acre, and to an adjoining acre 
eight loads of dung, and the dung repeated upon the latter the third and 
fifth years, and the whole then sown with wheat. The turnips and wheat 
still showed the best crop on the boned part. 
Capt. Ogilvie made a series of trials, applying fifteen to twenty bushels 
to the acre; and alter five years he found all the successive crops of tur¬ 
nips, barley and grass seeds decidedly superior to those which had been 
produced by other manure. 
