Εικόνες σελίδας
PDF
Ηλεκτρ. έκδοση

four or five inches above that, continuing the cultivation until it is four years old, and even after it has attained the size necessary to answer the purpose of a good fence, the ground alongside of it should be kept in good condition.

Many persons have supposed that the plant will not endure severe cold. It certainly has endured cold 35° below zero, and will undoubtedly meet the contingencies of hard winters; but like every thing else upon a farm, it ought never to be treated with neglect. The only difficulty is the first winter, on ground that cracks badly with frost. A sure remedy for this is to cover the ground close up on both sides with straw, in the fall. The straw need never be removed, as it keeps the ground moist, and the weeds from growing in the summer.

The fourth spring it may be cut six or seven inches above the former cutting. The following June eight inches higher, after which the latter part of the summer's growth will make it sufficient to answer the purpose of a good fence. After this, trimming once a year will be sufficient; this should be done in the latter part of the summer or fall, before the wood hardens. It will be found that much less trimming is necessary after the hedge is formed. The reason is very obvious, to wit: its manner of growing will cause each plant to spread and throw out a great number of branches, to be supplied with sap, and cause the former vigorous growth to be exhausted, so that it will then grow more slowly.

The first cutting, that of one year after the hedge has been set, can be best done with a pair of shears made for the purpose, and to be had at most hardware stores. The second cutting can be done with a short, heavy, briar scythe, hung upon a strong, stiff snathe. The second year's cutting can also be done with a scythe. The best way is to walk along the right side of the row, and cut half way, or to the centre of the row. When you get to the end of the row, turn around to the right, and come back upon the other side, cutting the other half in a similar manner. In so doing it can be cut of an oval shape. Then by taking a large cutter, such as are used for cutting up cornstalks it should be kept very sharp-using the knife and cutter to trim the sides, and keep them in proper shape, at all times letting the lower branches extend out, in order that they may become strong, that the base may be wide. It should be at least four or five feet

wide at four years old. If the lateral shoots are trimmed as frequently, and with as much thoroughness as the upright shoots, they will soon lose their vigor and strength, as the natural tendency of the growth is upward-hence the necessity of skill and judgment to properly form the hedge. Great care should be taken to secure a close, strong, and firm base, since a large portion of the hedges that have been set have failed, for want of the use of a proper method in forming the base. The trimming of the third year can be done in the same manner as that of the second year. The fourth year's trimming will have to be done mostly with the knife, at all times keeping the hedge in the shape of the one above represented.

Concerning the amount of time and labor expended in planting and cultivating this plant for hedge purposes, another practical farmer assures us, that it takes four or five years to make a fence, costing one day's work for forty rods in planting, as much for cultivating and hoeing as it would cost to hoe a row of corn, and no more; say half a day for cutting and hoeing forty rods yearly, which for five years would be

[graphic]

two and a half days for forty rods; in all, at $1 per day, the cost would be $3 50. He speaks of companies who set out thousands of

rods of Osage hedge yearly; they charge sixty cents a rod, but get but little pay down; they guarantee a good fence, and wait for most of the pay until the fence is perfected. It is true, says our farmer, that the ground should be well prepared, and all the work well done, and in season, to make a good hedge row; so it must be to make a good row of corn, and there is no more difficulty, and but little more labor in cultivating the Osage Orange row, than the row of corn.

Such are the merits and excellencies of this plant, that in the opinion of the most experienced hedge-growers, the Osage Orange will rapidly take the place of all other fences on the prairies, inasmuch as it is more protective, easier to be kept in repair, and the cost is but trifling.

The preceding cut represents a full grown and completed hedge fence: nothing would add more to the beauty and protection of a farm, than being surrounded and divided by well trimmed and thrifty hedges.

MAPLE SUGAR.

THE preparation of maple sugar is considered one of the most agreeable of their occupations, by farmers residing in districts where many sugar maple trees grow wild. A great part of the forests of Northern Illinois consists of these valuable trees. Towards the latter part of March, when the buds begin to swell, and the nocturnal frosts are followed by warm days, these trees are tapped with augers, about two feet above the earth, and hollow elder tubes being inserted in the bores, the sap is made to trickle through them into troughs placed below. Every morning the contents of the troughs are emptied into kettles, and the sap, at first but slightly sweet, is boiled the whole day until it assumes the thickness of syrup; from the moment it commences to thicken, it is continually stirred. This maple syrup has a very agreeable and aromatic taste, as if it had been mixed with vanilla, or the extract of orange blossoms, and hardens within a few hours after being poured out of the kettle into flat vessels. If it is previously clarified with milk, or the white of eggs, the sugar receives a light brown color; without such previous purification, however, it has a dark brown appearance, having, nevertheless, a sweet and pleasant taste. From one bore of a tree a gallon of sap runs out, within about twenty-four hours, three or four gallons yielding a pound of sugar. At spring time, a family can prepare from one hundred and fifty to two hundred pounds of sugar within eight days. Tapping the trees does not damage them, if, after the sap has ceased to flow, the holes are stopped with clay.

In districts where no sugar maples grow wild, every farmer should plant a half or a quarter of an acre with these trees, which may be easily raised from the seed. In the short space of eight or ten years, he might raise a sufficient supply for himself, and in a longer period,

even much for sale. Whilst the trunks are still young, the land may be turned to account as a meadow; and lastly, the wood itself is far more valuable than common timber, being admirably suited for purposes of joinery and turning, and therefore commands a higher price than any other species of American wood.

« ΠροηγούμενηΣυνέχεια »