tried were the buckthorn, Osage orange,
honey-locust, privet and barberry. The evergreens were the Norway
spruce, hemlock, and American arbor-vitae.

The buckthorn has the advantage of great hardiness, thick growth, and
easy propagating and transplanting, and requires but a moderate amount
of cutting back. But the growth is not stout enough to resist unruly
animals, unless in very rich soils, and even a moderate amount of
cutting back is an objection to farmers.

The cost of buckthorn hedges, including the preparation of a strip of
soil five feet wide, purchase of plants, setting, and occasional horse
cultivation on each side, was about twenty-five cents a rod the first
year. The yearly cultivation and cutting back, until the hedge had
reached full size, was three or four cents a rod. Though the buckthorn
has nearly passed out of use on account of its inefficiency, it is not
impossible that it may be extensively planted when cultivators find that
it may be converted into an efficient barrier by inclosing two or three
barbed wires extending its length through the interior--these wires,
supported on occasional posts, being successively placed in position as
the hedge increases in height, the branches growing around the wires and
holding them immovably in position. Galvanized wire should be always
used, on account of its durability.

Osage orange hedges require more care than buckthorn, in assorting
plants of equal size and vigor, and the rejection of feeble plants. Like
all other hedge plants, they should be set in a single line, and eight
inches apart is a suitable distance. For the first few years the ground
must be kept well cultivated. It is partly tender and will not endure
the winters at the North, unless on a well-drained soil. Hence the
importance of placing a good tile drain parallel to the hedge and within
a few feet of it. Thus protected, good hedges have stood for twenty-five
years where the thermometer has often shown ten or twelve degrees below
zero, and sometimes lower.

No hedge is more commonly mismanaged than the Osage orange. It is
planted in imperfectly prepared ground; vigorous and feeble plants are
planted indiscriminately, cultivation and pruning are omitted or not
done thoroughly, resulting in broken and irregular lines. When more care
is given, the hedge is nearly spoiled by being pruned too wide at the
top, the heavy shade above causing meagre growth and openings below. It
should be pruned in