Debietoe oa eu Canoes Uta lien 11 
must be repaired or replaced, multiflora rose fences last a life time and 
will continue to serve your children.” 
Multiflora rose is a plant which on the best soils attains heights of as 
much as 10 feet and comparable widths. Like other roses, it’s a thorny 
plant. In May and June in Illinois it produces many small white blooms. 
They are followed by clusters of small, round, red berries or hips, each 
with eight or nine seeds inside. The hips remain from the time they appear 
in early summer until the following March. 
In its growth the rose achieves a form which has been compared to an 
umbrella. Its thorny, fast growing canes extend upward 4 to 6 feet or 
more, then droop over, the side canes almost touching the ground. The 
plant does not spread from rootstalks, but the tip of a cane, when pressed 
into the soil, may take root and grow. 
The rose grows best in deep, fertile, well drained soils. The best time 
for planting it is in the fall after October 1, but before the ground freezes. 
It can also be planted in spring as soon as the frost has left the ground. 
Within 38 to 6 years after planting (depending on soil and weather 
conditions), the rose will provide a tough, impenetrable hedge that will 
hold back cattle, horses, sheep and goats, and hogs that are ringed. As a 
contour fence it has been found suitable for installing between cropland 
and permanent pasture and between fields used for rotation grazing. 
Anderson and Edminster point out that rose hedges aid in better land 
use by keeping live stock from large gullies, eroding stream banks, farm 
pond areas, woodlands, and other areas best suited for wildlife land. They 
add the hedge is also effective as soil-protecting cover in areas difficult 
to revegetate, such as highway banks, sand blows, mine spoil, gullies, and 
eroded slopes. 
The main emphasis on multiflora rose from the standpoint of wildlife 
has been on its superior value as cover. Its importance as a source of food 
for birds has been considered secondary. Anderson and Edminster say 
multiflora hips or fruits are eaten by some game and song birds when 
other food is scarce. 
“Tt is not a very important food for any kind of farm game,” they con- 
clude. “‘“Farm game will benefit most where the rose is used to protect small 
areas of grass cover plants that furnish their favorite foods. Its use as a 
living fence places it on parts of the farm where protective woody cover 
is usually scarce.” 
Bruce Diehl, however, believes the rose has been underestimated as a 
source of food. He has observed many species of small birds — field spar- 
rows, juncos, brown thrashers, and thrushes among them — going after 
the fruits with apparent relish. The plant is especially important as a 
food source in winter when deep snow covers other foods, he says. 
“Aside from food, multiflora rose provides ideal winter refuge and es- 
cape cover for birds and small animals because of its thorny nature,” says 
Diehl. “It also affords excellent travel lanes for ground nesting birds and 
nonmigratory birds. All insect eating songbirds, as well as game birds such 
as the quail and pheasant, are attracted to it.” 
