Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1867-06-12
Live FenueS--HOw to Make Them.

Tens of thousands of miles of fences
having been utterly destroyed during the
continuance of the now happily past war
the absolute need Of repairing the
farms made desolate, and the desire that
these fences should be made not only du-
rable but also pleasing to the eye, and
cheap wilhal, we have been induced to
write few lines on live fences and their
growth and cultivation. Taking it alto
gether, the Usage Orange certainly offers
the very best material for living fence.
1t being Southern tree, renders it pecu-
liarly applicable in your dry and often
drought visited climate. This plant will,
in five years after planting. make living
fence i'm enetrabIe to man or beast /;
offering sure protection not only against
horses and cattle, but also against hogs,
sheep, and what is often more destructive,
thieving men and boys.
The expense of making such fence
is triAing, compared with its real utility !;
at the prices at which the plants are now
sold, living fence after four years of
cultivation, and when it is fit to be turned
out and will be ready to serve all the
purposes of any fence, will not cost more
than one dollar per rod sum hardly
sufficient to build and keep in repair 8
common rail fence, and not near enough
to pay for and set five board and post
fence. The better way in your section
will be to buy the plants when one year
old, (Which now sell for. six, dollars per
thousand, but next year can be procured
for two-thirds or less that amount, and
to set the plants the next spring. y
The preparation of the ground for this
fence, should be such.a preparation as We
give to our COIN ground that. is, thor
ough, deep blowing in the fall, and a
lighter blowing and thorough narrowing
in the spring before setting the hedge. A
very good and usual way is to mark out
your hedge row and cultivate it once in
corn, peas, or potatoes; take the crop
off, plow in the fall and then again in the
spring as above; by this means the ground
is rendered mellow and free from weeds:
You should prepare the ground for your
hedgcrow at least eight feet wide, so that
the weeds can be kept down with the
p!ow and cultvator, and the roots of the
plants will have soft ground to run in.
The proper time to set the hedge is any
time from the first of March to the first
or even fifteenth Of May. Here many
do not plant until the middle of June,
and yet have gpod hedges. The manner
of setting the hedge most popular here, is
as follows: First set line of stakes
(say four feet long and five or six rods
apart,) exactly in line where you want
to set your plants; then with a strong,
steady team and a good plow, strike a
furrow exactly in o line with the stakes,
the whole length Of your proposed fence;
return in the same furrow, thus making
it, say one foot deep. Then place your
hcdge.lne which shopld'be q small, stout
rope, twelve to twenty rods long, with
bits of red flannel placed twelve inches
apart along its entire length; these pieces
of flannel are to mark the distance apart
for your plants. Fix your line steady
with stout stakes, so that the wind will
not get it out of place and'then straighten
your furrow with spade or hoe, where
it is out of lire, and lay your plants in
the furrow against the side thereof and
at the distance apart that marked on the
line by your flannel. Throw a . little
earth over the roots to keep them in their
places and withdraw your line; set it
again in the furrow beyond where you
have planted and set the plants as before,
and so proceed until you have your fence
all set. Take your lire upHnd with your
steady horse and small plow throw fur
rows on to the roots of the plants until
the yellow part of the roots are all GOV.
cred. These burrows may be thrown on
both sides of the plants. Then pass over
your line, setting the plants up and tramp
ing the ground well on both sides of the
plants, then throw up one or more burrows
on each side of your plants SO that from
three to five inches of the root above the
yellow is covered. This completes the
planting; but it is far better and much
safer after this, to cover the ground for
distance of three or four feet on each side
of the row, with any old litter, straw,
leaves, unrotted manure or anything that
will serve as q mulch. This mulch should
be at least six inches deep, so that there
would be more certainty of the plants
not suffering from drought during the first
veer If their nrDwth.