roots were removed, are found in a fresh and sound condition.
Let a pit be dug say two feet deep, the roots carefully disposed in it, covered with soil, and the whole protected by coarse litter, straw, etc. We do not advise any to adventure their whole stock in this manner; but we design to select the inferior sorts from our stock and treat them thus; and if successful, we shall, another year, try our whole stock.
HEDGES.
1. Where a hedge is properly made and carefully trimmed, it is the most beautiful fence that can be made; and, as an object of beauty, it may be well to form hedges in a wood country; but as a mode of general fencing we deem it totally inappropriate to the condition of a country abounding in timber. The labor of setting and tending it until it is established, is tenfold more than is required for a timber fence; a hedge requires from five to eight years for its establishment; and every year of this time it must be well tended; when grown, it requires annual shearing; which, on a long line of fence, is a labor to which few farmers will submit for the sake of appearances. It is liable to get out of order by disease, or the death of particular parts; and, if neglected a few years, it becomes ragged, a covert for vermin and mischievous animals. In yards, gardens, and lawns, hedges should be grown for ornament, and to serve as screens, and backgrounds.
Upon the estates of the affluent where money is less valuable to the owner than decorations, hedges should be established. Hedges may also be economical in a prairie country; the labor and expense of making and keeping may be less than would be the cost of timber; but on farms in a
woodland district they are to be regarded as a luxury; and like all luxuries, they are expensive.
2. The white thorn will do very well for hedges if carefully tended. The usual materials for hedges, at the East, are the English white thorn (cratægus oxycantha), the buckthorn (rhamnus catharticus), Newcastle thorn (cratægas crus-galli), honey locust (gleditschia triacanthos), red cedar (juniperus Virginiana), the Washington or Virginia thorn (cratægus cordata).
The Osage orange (maclura aurantiaca) has been highly recommended; it is eminently beautiful, and if proved to be good for hedging, should be employed. Privet makes a sightly hedge, but is thornless. The Washington thorn is employed in this neighborhood by Aaron Aldredge; it is very beautiful; will require eight or ten years to give it maturity.
3. When the thorn is used, the berries should be gathered and mashed, in the fall, and the seed exposed, mixed with moist sand, to the frost of winter. In the spring they should be sown in nursery rows, and at a year old, they should be transplanted. A reserve of plants should be kept in the nursery to supply vacancies which may occur.