THE YEOMAN.

Wairarapa Standard, Volume I, Issue 25, 24 June 1867, Page 3

THE YEOMAN.

We publish to-day two original letters which cannot fail to be interesting to our agricultural readers. We shall be glad to. receive others of a similar character from other correspondents, and in the meantime wo thank the writers who have favored us with their communications, and shall be at all times most happy to hear from them on such subjects as they may feel disposed to treat of.

OSAGE ORANGE, AN AMERICAN HEDGE PLANT. (To the Editor of (he Waip.ar.ipa. Mercury.) Sin, —As several of your readers may have had no opportunity of acquiring information as to the value of the above, named shrub, allow mo through your deservedly popular journal to give some account of its characteristics, suitability for fencing purposes, and manner of cultivation, as gathered from a tractate by the Eminent Seedsmen, Law Sonnier and Co., Pittstreet Sydney, to whose enterprise the Australian Colonies are indebted for its introduction, as well as from other sources. Although the discovery of its valuable properties is of comparatively recent date thousands of miles of it already skirt the Railways and surround the Farms in the States of America. It is coming into extensive use, and rapidly rising in public esteem in New South Wales and the neighbouring Colonies, and there’s little room to question its adaptation to the soil and climate of New Zealand. Every practical farmer can appreciate the value of good fences, efficiency and durability are the great ends to be sought. Now who is not aware that excellent and abundant as are our Totara and other materials for post and rail fences in this part of the Colony, the latter quality is not to he expected, the work of renewal every 15 or 20 years at farthest will be unavoidable ; prolusion for more permanent fencing should therefore he sought in time. In districts such as the East Coast, the Canterbury plains, and others, where timber is. not to be ohtaine l,"a substitute

in the way of wire fencing- has to be imported at considerable cost winch cannot be said to be ornamental nor to afford shelter to cattle either in winter or summer, every other known description of fence is more or less objectionable. Ditch and bank without live fence, or top rail is insufficient and besides, being expensive is very liable to slip and go out of order. Again, quicks or hawthorn are of very slow g-rowth and unless in very good soil rarely succeed, then -when shelter is most needed they fail to afford any. Gorse or Furze, Kangaroo Thorn, Prickly Acacia and Cape | Broom, not only require great care to produce even a tolerable hedge, but are from their habit of growth known to be highly combustible, or from spreading their roots laterally most wasteful and exhaustive of the adjacent soil. To none of these objections is the Osage liable, all who have given it a fair trial concur in declaring it superior to every other species of fence with which they are acquainted, and likely when better known to come into general use. When men of acknowledged discrimination and high standing, such as Mort of Sydney, or Horsfall of Moralbank, Victoria, endorse these opinions it may he safely asserted that they are worthy of credit, and not mere verbiage. The Osage Orange is so named after an aboriginal tribe of American Indians, in whose territory it is found, near the hanks of the Osage river, and from a fancied resemblance to the common orange tree. The properties that recommend it for fences are—its rapid growth, formidable prickles, its tenacity of life under the roughest treatment, resisting the effects of hush fires, and hot winds, owing to its deeply penetrating roots, its capability of being made so close by pruning, as to render it imperious to a rabbit, its handsome glossy foliage and from its being found that no cattle “ will ” from the presence of a hitter element in the sap—nor “ can,” owing to its formidable thorns—ever touch it.

The history of its adoption for fences is curious and interesting’. Professor Turner of Illinois while lecturing' on education in the praries of America, obobserved that the want of good fences interfered very much with the attendance of the children at schools in the country districts by occasioning- a demand for their services in looking’ after the live stock to remedy this evil; he initiated a series of experiments on a number of plants for the formation of fences, and after many failures the osage orange crowned his efforts with satisfactory results. His opinion of its utility is as follows :—“ If any man will sit down and draw a description of a hedge plunt presently as he would wish it if he would have one made to order to make an impassible hedge for all coming- time in four years, 1 will engage to prove that the osage orange is in all points as good and even better than imagination could wish.”

It remains to notice briefly the mode of cultivation. The seed may be sown pretty early in spring-, but unless assisted by artiiical means, being- slow in germinating-, is liable to remain months before bursting-its covering-, thus entailingexpense and trouble in keeping down weeds. The following simple and easy method has proved efficacious in overcoming- this difficulty. Immerse the seed in tepid water two or three days, taking- care to change the water twice at least during that time. Next spread it three or four inches in some warm situation between some sacking- or calico so as to exclude the light and protect it from frost and cold—to prevent fermentation, care should be taken to turn it over once or twice daily and to keep the covering tolerably moist. In about a week or as soon as the seed puts forth its germ, it should be sown in a carefully prepared bed in rows two or more feet apart, and in the course of three or four weeks the young plants will exhibit their two seed leaves above ground. Planting- into fences may commence with the first rains in May and be continued till the middle ofSeptember. If the land be poor and bard a trench should be made about two feet wide and nearly as deep and filled with better material. A yearling- plant is rarely more than six to twelve inches. After cutt.ng- the longer roots with a sharp hatchet on a block, and the tops to within a couple of inches of the roots, the plants should be placed six inches, apart and one inch deeper than they were in the seed bed. The efficiency of the fence depends entirely on the after management and at no stage is more care required than during the first year. The necessity of priming or cutting back is insisted on by all cultivators as it is only by attention to this point that the desired density, can be secured, and it is a peculiarity of the Osage Orange that it will bear cuttingat all seasons. At the commencement of the second year after transplanting-, the shoots should be cut back to within three inches, of the ground, a second cutting two indies higher or five inches from the ground may be made in December, and'it is of importance that weeds be kept down at this time. Tiio third year’s‘pruning should leave the new shoots four inches long, making-the hedge now nine inches high. At the beginning- of the fourth year, say in May, the pruning should leave last year's shoots about seven inches from the ground and another in December leaving the fence nine inches higher will give

thirty indies as the height in all. In April following a most durable, formidable, and ornamental fence will repay all your care and outlay. It may appear objectionable to have to wait four years for a good fence can he properly raised in less time. The mere height may he gained in a season or two, but leaving the hedge untrimmed or just topped would be to render it useless against the smaller animals, whereas when due care has beon taken to thicken it below, it becomes so close as to he imperious even to a rabbit. Having now completed what ;T undertook I have but to add that the seed can he procured in any quantity from any of the establishments of flie firm alluded to in the beginning of this hasty sketch—that of Law, Somner & Co., in either Sydney, Melbourne, or (I believe) Dunedin. The retail price is 20s. per pound, and if what I venture to obtrude upon the notice of the public should prove useful in leading any of my fellow-settlers to a persevering effort to turn this unrivalled hedge plant to good account my labour will not he lost. I am, Sir, Your obedient servant, JOHN CRAYNE, Grange, Sylvia, ' Masterton, June 11, 1867.

PRAIRIE. GRASS. (To the Editor of the Wairarapa Mercury.) Sir, —I gave in your last the result of my trial of the large kind of prairie grass, I will in this say a few words with regard to the small kind. The seed of this sort is light and haiiy, and smuts a good deal like the common oat, but gives a good yield of seed. The leaf is the size of cocksfoot; and the seed stalk which grows five feet on good laud, is soft and fine, and well adapted fur hay. Mixed with trefoil it will give a heavier cut of hay than any other grass seed I know of. I have mown it three years in succession and got heavy crops. In winter I have grazed it with cattle by which process it becomes thicker. It does not die out, nor do other grasses take its place, but it seeds about the land like other strong grasses. But with all these good qualities it has a fault: —horses and cattle do not feed on it so greedily as on other grasses, but leave it until feed is getting short. Probably use would in the end cause them to like it. I obtained my first seed from Mr D. Hart of the Pakaratahi who brought it from Adelaide. . Your’s truly, 11-J.