Nebraska advertiser., 1858-03-25
Agriculture.
Vie Osage Orange.
I'm the CountIy G~enllemln.

the whole country Is SO largely indebted
for the introduction of the Usage Orange
as a Hedge plant, has kindly furnished
the following interesting and valuable re-
marks, in reIly 10 the several inquiries
which our readers s. often make, in rela-
zion to this hs dye, and they fully accord
with the limited observations aud expert
nlents which we have made in the m0re
eastern portions of the Inion.
j. j. THossAs, Esq.-In reply to your
inquiries. would say that Ihaye WATCHED
with much interest, the prospects and pro-
gress of hedges in the West for some
years past. For + ore than twenty years
Lavc teen fully convinced that with US
on the prairies, there was no possible al
tentative, and that we must htdge with
something, for we have no stone, and IN
many places not half timber enough 10
keep up our buildings and railroads, to say
nothing of fencing; and as to herding
took where hundreds of thousands of
of cattle and swine must pass through
The country in all directions, every year,
and almost every moi th in the year, on
Their way 10 the gr,a at markets, or TO int
dealers. it would seem to be absurd.
What would protect crops against the
lean, and gaHit, sta FFiHg drores of those
Mexican rangers, VINO sometimes PASS
through these regions with one O. two
thousand of tLeSe lean k1ne in a singh
drove A man may wei LESS LIS
stars III such conditions, if he is able to
keep his corn, hay and fruit, when locked
LIP IN Ii arm or %c,l!ar, to say nothing
OF leaving il all oLt On the public com
mnn. And though our own citizens are.
with-scaree a single exception, honest aid
upright men, sill if a man can now keep
these hosts and troops of foreign emf
grants, move-s. and drovtrs, from tearing
down a ten rail fence md driving through
his fields, at any rate, he will do we'll
For these. and similar reasons, / have
deemed hldging with us ~indispensal k,
and have made many Efforts II in
trDduce il; and after ONE ten Y ars ex-
pertinent aud trial in our early history, ]
ecame satisft d fully. II al TIT Gage Or
ange was the best and only plant tLat III
this rlace we could probably use. ac-
cYrdiuglv wrote and pulli shtd on thes..b-
ert IA tie Prairie FaFna Patent DHe
Z ports ard oiheF ~JsTNrs prpelr
seed, pfisfd apIants 10th for myself and
fSr . lers. htdg ] ali NY own lanJs and
grounds, and furnished plants and seeds
+ my brothersa aud personal friends, while
I. e big pulI5c" stIlI ridlcils d the enter
prise as a .morus multirahlIsp speculation.
and would bay neither Ilantsi nor asoed.
The result Is. that on tte place where
/ nhw live, / haveih no other fence vi atev-
r fla the hedge, exc, pfsaround my tarn-
wards, and have not had for years. My
irmher- Nj. Av,ry Turner, of Quincy,
also has the h. dye on his farm mostly OF
VIII lly. and good hedges are now quite
asy to be found, and poor mes too A
small farm of n hundr, d and twenty
acres, lying ten miles from this. / htdgtd
before I sold it, all in twenty acre lots
another farm, southwest, of SEQ acres, /
began to hedge into eighty acre lots, but
sid it BEFORE i was completed. / have
also made a mile or two ofhedre on Gov
Duncan's grounds, and the Illinois Col
Ilege grounds, immediately joining or ntar
to my own homestead This | did for the
sd e of improving NIX own place, in part.
I have also sold latterly, from one to TWO
millions of the plants TO my customers an
nually for some years pat mostly IN
this vicinity, ! ut some iii almost every
State in the Union; and shall stll about
Il e same quantity this spring, mostly to
old customers, or in their neighborhood
aud at The same old prices in spite of hard
times.
l. II Ought to take four years on good
rich prairie land, and no more, TO
make a good stock hedge; on barren or
poorer 4and. of course it would take
Prorortionally longer, unless manure was
USED.
2. Tn my opinion, common farm hedges
should never he cliTp d at all. at beast no
thing more than to cut lack overgrown
: shoots, 80 even the growth, ill it Is three.
or at | asst two years old--aS the way j;
II begin at The boltoin-and the firStihing
to he fnrutd is a vigorous root. and fol
! tits end. of course the less Clipping tbs
= better. Then cut down TO the ground
{ Cut Oft n, and form the hedge IN q single
year, beginning in early sFF.ng. Tsl
3. Shoots will generallygFo from4 tt
6 feet long if not cut-Sometlmes more
when the soil is good.
a. Asto the proportion that proves sue
g ~Cessful, ] should think it about IN the pro-
portion TO the orchards that have prOvtC
successful in the Wesi-and your own az
: ticle and rFmarks in the Annual Registei
for 81, page $50, most CLEARLY sets forth
Tie sad fact still is. that there Is not mor'
than about one man in ten that will rails
any crop vii atever ;athe nIajOFiIy-HyI no
have more than two-thirds or ene,haf
- crup1oflanything, if it is Tossitle.to blun
der ounof it. Hence. if land that wOuh
W easily produce 100 bushels of corn 4
the acre, is made to prnduce 30, It doe
very well. Just so. some get half a hedg
: or half an orchard. or no hedge or u
orchard at ail-for II soharpens that al
ahtdgel or half an orchard, especially ]
il is the lower half that is missing, ]
neither so useful nor so saleatle IN tn
Z market as half a crop Of corn. But on
r good farmers have hedges that am nj
ashamed to show against any fence, Q
- - = IL ~I.,ril not oycpu.