HEDGES AND AEDGE TLANTS.

Waikato Times, Volume X, Issue 646, 11 July 1876, Page 2

HEDGES AND AEDGE TLANTS.

Tbora i<s no bettor hedge than white thorns vhere.th » climate and soil will »nit them. The firsi thing a farmer ought to eonsidor whon he cununeuces fenciug a now farm is, wiH hU soil mat tlie thorn? the next is how to prepare the soil for tbem, and how to plant thjm as well as the best time for planting them. Many failures ia hedge? occur thro.igU not considering the nature of the plant. I hive wa'ehed f jr nioaj juaru the different ways of planting thorns, ulio the ways thoy hare Ik en treated after wards I do not think that one mile in fifty erer gets a chance to become a good hedge, and therefore the white thorns avo cjming into general disrepute. I will now giro my own exporienee. on i afterwards briefly show faults in planting. First, the haws should bo gathered nt theondof April or May. When gathered bruise ihe whole of the fruit off in a tub or bos, th«n wash the nut* till they are free from fruit, and afterwards let them diy in the sun, so that the thin shall that encases the nut will bronk off by rubbing them in a sieve not fine enough to allow tee nut to go through. It is that thin shell that prevents tho aotion of tho weather «.fFjctin>' t'->.e joint in tho nut, and till that decays vegetation will not take placo, tius showing thaf a faw minutes work will save a whole year. Leave tho nuts exposed to the weather from May to August, and then sow them in well prepited soil and keep weeis from choking them. By this mode of treatment you will have a" good plant ready for planting tne following July. I hare raised a good strong plant, from one to one and a half feet high, in fifteen month?, from gathering the haw§ to planting. As a porminent hedge, I prefer two year old plants that have not been transplanted ; they do not require a.4 much p-eparaiion for planting, and their roots are single, stronger, and stratgbtor, and are 1 thti3 more easily planted with the dibber. My reason for advocating planting with a dibber is, (hat it u the only practicable apd inexpensive raodo of getting the plants placed in the bank perpendicular. I consider the planting of mora importance than is generally supposed. The way I now prepa'e for planting a l ie dge is this : 1 thoroughly clean and plough where tho bank of tho ditch is to be built on, to prevent as far as possible fungus growth, caused by decaying fern stalks, aud to encouraga the thorn to take deap*r yoot and get more moisture. I pl*nt in the lowermost sod, putting the dibber through the sad almost perpendicular^ so that tin root of the thorn gets into tho ploughsd land nnder tho bank ; k:ep ng them as upright as I can, so th t all the ruin and dew that falls on the loaves is conducted to the roots. .The newly »et plnnti require all tbo tno'sture they oan get, since much depends on the first year* growth. If a young h6d«e gets stunted in its growth the first year 16 never grows with th* Bame vigour as if it lia-i made a good start when first planted. Much also depends ou keeping tho plants from, being choked with w*ods for the first two years. Keeping them cl»ar is the oi;ly expense pith thorns aftur they are piontfd till they are sevon years old. The hedge kuifo should be carefully kept off them till tuoy are ttt le.wt sevoa jearj planted, There is nothing that will weaken the

tVrn he.l^e si.much as the «ni r e wiicn it is yo'in-*. AH >w it t» gro v and get, pi ten »,th of -jta !c. iX> ti'it mini if it i«i uoh no ploasing to your pye as Mr Homebody Eire's, who has ki>pl h s cu l (Yon tin first war it was p!«nt^d. I can show thorn ■ three to four inch?* in diameter in th' stalk, aul twelve feet, high, also two neighbour* bodgds, the pUnt* of whcii were in th} sain) c-n^c. O.io kept his helge pruned, and it is admired by all mat hive seen it, but you will hardly find a st.illt in the hadge thicker thnn a walking stick. Tho other neighbour allowed his thorns to bo choked, and tuey are not much largor than coarse straw. I know another instance of a hedge that was planted twenty-seven or fwentyeight years ago and kept praned, and before it bee ime a fence that would keep out cattle two artificial fences had become rotten, and a third would have had to be erected to keep stock out or in. You may say poor material was used, but the wooden fence* wore made of Tasminian stringy bark. I will now give a more favourable in.*tiuce,thab of Air J Dil worth's cut thorn hedges. I do not think they nra any better in this Province. There were no two feDess needed there before thu bhorns became a fenca of themselves, and many of tho fauces were not made of very testing material either, namely, Mapau bhch sLakes and ti-tree wattling. His hedge 3 were allowed to grow from seven to thirteen yearg before tho hedge knife was used, except so far ns it might be necessary to cut off a stragling lower branch, to allow the weeds to be reinored. Whan sufficiently strong, they were laid, and •ufllciant wood was cut off and paced on the back of the hedge to prevent »tock biting off tho young shoots, whioh they will readily do, and whioh is as injurious to the hedge as the knife. After thoy are laid, the hedge-knife should not be u«ed for, at lea3t, fiva years. By this way of treating thorns, you will havo a stronger h<'dge, and mure shelter, at less expense and in a shorter timo. O.ily in one instance, have I yet bad to renew manuka wattling till the thorn a havo been «. fence theonalvesJ, and the cause of that was, thnb tho thom3 wore planted in an old bank that had beeu maJe two years. They do not do co woll as if planted iaunediitely tha bank is made. I consider it a wasto of time and money to plant thorns in a bank where there is a ditch on both sides, except in wet lan.l, because when they get six or sereu years oIJ, their roots will bo found in ploughing fourteen or fifieen feet from where they were planted, thus showing thoy require ir jre than being oonlined to the dry bank for ih-ir nourishment. I consider it a waste of tims and mouey to plant thorns on very light dry land. Kangaroo aecaoia makes a very good bodge further norlh, whore the frosts are not so *e»ero and nearer the sea. Unlike the thorn it requires to be pruned when it it young. It will not bear cutting after it is lour or five years old, as it will not shoot again from the static ; but Kangaroo acoacia will not stand the frost on theie plains. Oisaga orange U alow of growth, and only a small p"r eentagi of tiie saed will grow at all, and it is difficult to procure in quantity ; ft is also a' tucked and killed by the i*me fungus that kills tho -thorn. Bramble* and blackberries m ike a hotlga lhut no cattle cm get through. They afford goo I shelter if planted on a sod wall, and are prerentid croismg tho ditches. Hakea makes a good hedge, and affords good shelter, but it is dilKeulb to procure in quantity, and will not bear packing for transport. It is also difficult to tr»nspl»nfc, and musb be grown on the plitco »nd transplant in wot weather. 1 consider f ivr stu ly thd nature of the Imrfchorra, or considor that there it so much importance .to bo attached to tho way and time of planting thorns, or cutting them, thinking that any time that is mo3t convenient through the winter, or after tho leave* have fallen off, will do. I consider Iho best fcimo for planting a thorn hedge is th-j first week in Juy, and tho lost woek in July, or the fint vr»ek in August the best time for cutliugahed.;e. If wo take into consideration the ciru »n1 trouble tukon in tho old country with a thorn hedge, we may wonder that we ever got a badge at any timo. Tho land U dug deop or trenched, and well cultivated and manured, and iskepr. fr*e from woods, beside being set with throo or four yenr old plants and protected bj two Uups of femiiog until thJ plants are sufllcinntly strong to protrcb thennslves. Wo uannot aifjid to go 10 ibe exrent thoy do in the old •country, but wo oun afford to plant them b9l.tjr tlnnis generally dom in this frovinc. I wi I now give tho w*j hedge planting is don?, l^jritt, a lino of fence and ditoH is let to a (oncer b7 the chain to iniike tha ditch and plant the thorn*. The employer supplies the phnts, which aro geierally tm-ill, bscauio thoje ai>e the cheapest. i he ditchor lijs one ortwj sod* on their p a;e, at tho agreement miy bo, to tha Jikihg of th-crap.-rroi 1 . Tha plants arc then laid on hoiizoutally without any prep-»nUion, projecting from threo inches to a foot almost nt ri^ht angles to the ban'c. After this tho n-xt sol is laid on toti of thu plmts, all the weeds ani fern cuS off tho placo wh're the ditch was to be dug oue, beinu buried uu Jor ibe bank. If jou offer any suggestion you an told that Mr somebody plnnti his thorns that way, and thoy will do as vrull that way a* anj other way. I consider tiny will not do so well planted nt right an^to* from tko bank, for when th«y grow tho ghouls grow pei-peufftoular f.om the bud<j on the stalk whic\ is pUnted horiz)iifcAlly, and as the leaves conduut the rain that fuhs on tlu-n fo and dawn the stalk, the result is that being placed in tint position, all the motouro is conducted into the ditch in«toad of fco lue root, where ib is required. They cannot have too much moisture from rain, and all modes that will attract rain to the root ought to bo enejurigod rather than that tho m Mifcure sh mid be con lucbed away. (Ifrom n-aut of space we must defor the disouiiion which ensued until our next)