Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1866-07-03

Live Fences.

Readers Of the Herald-Being firm
ly convinced that the Usage Orange,
as a hedge plant, is all | have claim
ed for it, you may ask, why are there
so many failures in the attempts to
make hedges of Ills pl2nt, in this
part of the country? You are sensi-
Bile in asking this question and it is
no wonder that you have been led
to doubt since the majority Of per-
sons who have planted it here have
failed in making a good live fence.
There have also been failures all
oyer the country from Wfsconsin'to
Texas, and there always will be,
Willis in the same places others have
succeeded well and accomplished
what they undertook. And SO you
find it in all kinds of business, some
will succeed by energy and perseve-
rance, while others are careless and
neglected. and consequently fail.
| say there have been successes in
Usage Orange hedge planting and if
one may succeed in this ell {erprize.
all, if they viii, may do the same,
competition among hedge planters
is a fair race where all may win.
The causes of failure are the fol
lowing, First, A want of the proper
knowledge of how to make a hedge.
Second, Many who have disregarded
them. Third, Numerous failures oc-
curtrom mismanagementin the prep
%aration Of the ground, asserting,
handling and setting the plants, and
neglecting to replant or fill vacancies
at the proper time. Fourth, The al
most universal neglect to cultivate
and clip the hedge.
c. r. Oyerman, a man of large ex-
periehce in hedge growing in Illinois,
says: 4" After all that has been said
of a ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS, every point
in hedge culture is so simple and ca
silly understood, that none who I'm
dertake it need err on account of ig-
norance. If everything is done in
season and in a proper manner it is
comparatively a fight job to make a
hedge, and there is no outlay Of time
and ear that will better repay the
farmer than in well directed efforts
in hedging. The cost Of the Usage
Orange hedge may be set down at a
lower figure than that Of any wood
en- fence on the prairies."
Twclve-yearsago Mr.. E. E. Slo-
cum brought to this place from Hi
nois q lot of Usage Orange plants
and they We're planted by several dit
ferent individuals who expected soon
to have fences. Very many of the
plants, as Mr.. Slocum has told me,
died from drouth, they having be-
come quite dry before setting in the
ground, and then remaining dry for
a long time before rain, lost their vi
tality and did not grow. The fail
urc of many of the plants to grow,
was a reason for negltcting the rest
and SO no hedge was ever made OF
any Of them. All the plants that
survived the drouth and started to
years OF severe winters and no care
whatever, which is sufficient proof
that the Usage Orange Will do just
as well for u live fence in Wisconsin,
as in Illinois Or any other state.
The fact that the tops Of these have
been killed down by severe winters,
is no proof that they would have
done SO if they had been properly
c%ultiva I'd and clipped, as all live fen
ccs have to'be to be worth the name
Of fence.
Persons designing to set cut a
hedge next spring should prepare
the ground this year. Sod ground
should be broken while the grass is
growing thriftily either this month
or in July. If possible, break the
ground so IS to leave the dead fur
roW'on the lineot the hedge, then in
the spring plow the ground two or
three times, throwing the burroughs
on to the line of the fence SO as to
make a high ridge of deep mellow
soil. The better the ground IS pre-
pared the ooner You Will haye a
good live fence. =
l.. r. BINGHAM.
Tafton, June 1866.