The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1866-03-24
Osage oraage, tor meaglng.


SoWIEe THE SEED.-Prepare the ground
thoroughly, by blowing or spadiDg, and
pulVerize it finely with the harrow or rake.
The seeds should be sown in the fall, either
In October or November, in drills, eighteen
or twenty inches apart, with twelve good
seeds to the foot in the drills. They may,
however, be soWn in the spring, but the
seed must be soaked at time of planting.
To soak, put them Ia a close vessel, and
cover with hot water. but not boiling Let
them remain about one week, changing the
water occasionally, to prevent fermentation;
after which, mix with sard, and place them
IN shallow boxes, until they sprout, when
they will be ready for planting in the drills,
as recommended above.
Ii the season should prove dry. they will
want watering freely. The young plants
usually make their appearance in two to six
weeks, depending on the quantity of rain
or watering they have had. In case weeds
grow freely, it will be absolutely necessary
TO hand-weed the rows before the plants
| will show themselves, as they are very deli
cate and tender, until they are three OF four
inches high, thereby requiring careful Gull
ture and clear entrance into light. Not
withdrawing all this, thew will become as
L
will now require to be cleaned once or twice
month with cultivator and hoe, accord
4 ing osthe WeediRessz Of the ground. This
course ought to be continued until the
plants are large enough to shade the ground
thereby keeping down the weeds. The
plants will make an average growth of three
| feet the first season, while some will not
be foot, and others will reach the extraor-
Iinaru ha;rrhF 81 nd in inb
soil.
Some persons freeze the seed before plant
ing; this we consider entirely unnecessary,
in fact, useless, as good seed can be made
to vegetste in from ten to fifteen days, with
out any such process. There are little
over eleven thousand seeds in a quart, and
it is safe to suppose that quart will pro
duce at least five thousand plants, if it il
properly managed.
| MAKING THE HEDGE.-There seems to be
great diversity of opinion as to the best
manner of setting plants for the hedge
Some put double row, six inches apart,
and the plants one foot apart, in the rows,
setting them alternately, but those who have
had the most experience, prefer the single
row thus: = = =. The hedge is
more easily trimmed and trained to the prop
er shape. They should be placed the dis
lance of six to eight inches apart, as they
will then lose their nature as a tree, and be-
come healthy, vigorous shrub. The ex-
perience of some, however, has led them
to adopt the plan of setting exactly seven
aud one-fifth inches apart, or twenty seven
plants to the rod, which will require Just
eight thousand eight hundred plants per
mile.
Before the plants are set in the hedge,
they should be cut back to within an inch
of the ground so as to be only this height
when the setting is completed. In order t.
make thick base, it will be necessary to
! cut back the first three years grown, leav
ing from eight to twelve inches only of tina
seasons growth. This course must b.
pursued every spring until the hedge is OF
the desired height and form. We can give
no better ending to our remarks than to Civ
A. j. Downing's description of hedge
taken from his valuable work, 'The Hor-
ticulturist:"
GAS protection to the choicer products
of the soil, which tempt the spoiler of the
orchard and the garden, nothing is so eff
cient as a good hedge. It is like an i'm
pregnable fortress, neither to be scaled
broken through nor climed ever. Fowls
will not fly over it, because they fear to
light upon its top, and men and beast arr
not likely to make more than one attempt
to force it's green walls. It shows fair
and leafy shield to it's antagonist, but it has
thousands of concealed arrows ready at the
moment of assault, aud there are few crea.
lures, however bold, who care to come tc
the scratch twice with such foe. Indeed
a well made and perfect thorn hedge is SC