THE LATE PANIC.

Southland Times, Issue 581, 22 October 1866, Page 3

THE LATE PANIC.

Our London correspondent writes : — The Bank rate of discount has at last been reduced to 7 per cent. Not au hour too soon for the 10 per cent, rate was stopping business, and bringing hosts of small traders to the ground. It is t testimony of men well qualified to judge that no panic has ever occasioned so much distress, or such wide ruin as this of 1866. The economists, Mr Bonamy Price, Mr Eawcett, Mr Stuart Mill, and Professor Cairnos, are hotly debating whether it is merely a credit panic, or results from real loss of capital.

Another Beute. — A quaint writer says, ' I have seen women so delicate that they are afraid to ride for fear of the horses running away ; afraid to sail, for fear the boat might upset ; afraid to walk, for fear the dew might fall ; but I never saw one afraid to be married, which is iar more riskful than all the others put together.

HOW TO MAKE AN EFFICIENT HEDGE. The whitethorn is the best of hedge plants for any climate where the common kinds of fruit trees will grow. In attempting to form a good hedge, the ground should be subsoiled or trenched to the depth of twenty inches or two feet, the width of the strip about six feet ; and if the soil is of an inferior , quality, a good dressing of rotted manure should be turned in. Then sort your plants into three different sizes, as the strongest should always be planted by themselves, not weak plants and strong l ones mixed, as the large plants would I overpower the small ones. Before planting, the tops and foots should be shortened ; this can be done by; taking lipa handful and cutting off their heads within four or five inches of the collar, or point where the root commences. A sharp square-edged hatchet is best for the pur- ! pose, and a block of wood ; the roots can be shortened to the length of eight or ten inches. Plant them deep, leaving only about two inches of the tops above ! ground ; the distance which they are plaute'd in the row is about nine inches to the foot ; and for the greater certainty j of a good fence, they, are sometimes put iin double rows, a foot apart. Tor the ! first two or three years after the hedge i is planted, the ground will require an annual digging and hoeing, to keep down the weeds. It will then be pretty well able to take care of itself, though we should prefer to plough a width of three feet on each side of the hedge every autumn for two or three years more. The first year, when the leaves fall, you may cut down the' plants to about four or five inches from the surface of the ground. The second year the plants will have shot five or more shoots ; these can be cut down to within three inches of their origin. Should the plants have grown very strong, the hedge will have become thick and impervious at the bottom. However, the following summer, when the young wood becomes ripe (after the first or midsummer shoots have grown), the tops can be cut off to about half their length. We have used a sharp sickle, but a scythe will do as well. The hedge is then induced to throw out lateral shoots, which should be .allowed to spread on each side until the width at the base is about three or four feet. When the desired width is attained,- the form of the hedge must be of a conical or wedge shape, like an inverted V (a)As to the height of the hedge when fully formed, four or five feet is high enough for any purpose. ' Laying ' hedges is a sure way to ruin them. If care is taken with a whitethorn fence in the first few years of its growth, it will require but little attention afterwards. As the young growth throws the form or the hedge out of shape, go over it every year or two years, and trim it into form. Properly treated, the thorn is the least expensive or any fence, as the longevity of this valuable plant is not exceeded by any. There are now scores of miles of whitrthorn hedges in Australia ; and even in the hot climate of South Australia it is takin the place of all other hedge plants — ' Austalasian.'