The Shasta courier., 1861-11-30
NUMBER 80.
Honey Locust Hedges.

A correspondent of the Germantown Tele.
graph furnishes the following excellent re-
marks relative to hedges from the honey 10.
Gust
" have hedge of about forty rods in
length, the greater part of which is eompos,
ed of the honey locust, which | propagatsd
from seed. OF this valuable shrub. or more
properly tree, find that many complain.
as they are unable to make the seed germin.
ate, and plants for hedge-row can rarely
be obtained. There is, allow me to say, no
difficulty whatever in securing a rapid and
healthy termination of these seeds. If two
ounces of good nitric acid which can be
procured for shilling at any apothecary's
shop, be diluted in two gallons of water, and
the seeds stepped in it for twenty four hours.
the germs win appear in three DAYS after
the seeds are planted, and grow with great
rapidity and strength. and make fine plants,
surprising the celebrated buck thorn in size.
and requiring far less cultivation and care
both in the nursery and in the hedge row.
The seed should be sown in drills, in good
soil, the richer the better, and transplanted
into the lines in double rows about three
feet apart, and the plants eight inches asun-
der III the rows. In three years time the
plants will have the diameter of an inch,
and if not trimmed or cropped, the hight of
seven or eight feet. But the true policy In
managing a hedge, is to thicken the wood
and for this purpose the limbs should be crop
ped so as to throw the vital energy of the
plants into the stock The shears. therefore,
should be often applied, and every precau-
tionstaken to secure a thick, close and com.
pact growth as the best characteristic of an
efficient and ornament hedge. The seeds
of the common white thorn may be prepared
in the same manner as the honey locust
TH1 reason why this seed. when sowed in an
uhprepared stales so often fails to produce
phnts, is explained by the extremely hard
and impervious nature of the kernel, or en-
velope enclosing the lobes.
'And here we may observe the wisdom
which SO wonderfully characterizes the oper.
ations of nature. If the terminating pro-
cess were as easy and as readily consum.
mated in these seeds as in those of our cul-
tivated grains, or even in those of our more
valuable forest trees and shrubs. the land
would soon be monopolized by thorns, for nc
production is more affluent in seed But the
peeulia, structure of the envelope renders
the evolvement of the germ difficult. Per-
haps not one seed in ten thousand ever veee.
tates when left to the action of natural laws,
unassisted by the agencies af art The shell
being impervious to air and moisture, with
out which germin ition never can ensue from
the most healthily constituted seed, the lobes
cannot swell and even were this practicable
their force would not be sufficient to break
the hard walls of their prison, and decay
would consequently be the result. The
same difficulty often attends the peach stone,
and the stones of the drupe fruits generally.
Nitric acid, most caustic and corrosive
principle, eats into and cuts the texture of
the enclosing walls, and sets the prisoner
free. BY the time this is effected, the caus.
tic principle of tie acid is completely neu-
tralized by the soil, and no deleterious or
harmful effects result from its contact with
the lobes of the seed.
1t has been suggested as an important oh.
lection to the cnltigation of the honey locust
in hedges, that it will send up sprouts in the
contiguous cultivated grounds. This excep.
ton, however. is altogether antenable the
honey locust being one of that order of plants
which never send up suckers from the roots.
No fears, therefore, need be INDUCED on this
score, as overy one who has cultivated it,
remarked its peculiarities, will readily at
test