Repository: UIHistories Project: Board of Trustees Minutes - 1868 [PAGE 302]

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time, besides boards and nails. Hedge for protection ii Yery good, but does not equal the grey willow. It is cheaper to fence stock in. S. P. Boardman.—In the way of fencing, public interest in Central Illinois is now entirely concentered on hedge. Since the discovery and practice of plashing has come about, there are but few doubters as to the complete efficiency of the Osage hedge. Many of the old hedges (rather attempts at hedges) which were considered not only failures but nuisances, have been made, by plashing, to turn all kinds of stock. G. Harding.—My experience is in favor of a live hedge fence of the Osage orange. It gives shelter to stock; is a good wind-break, and an everlasting and effectual fence, at a cost of 60 cents per rod, when large enough to turn stock, and an annual cost of two cents per rod to keep the same in repair. I consider it cheaper to fence out stock than to keep it up. The Osage is best for a live fence. If managed rightly, it will turn any kind of stock in 3 or 4 years from re-setting in the hedge-row. We have no machines for cutting hedges. The plan I have followed for preparing ground, setting, tending and trimming plants, is this: Prepare the ground in the fall, then break deep in the spring by throwing together several furrows. Run one furrow in the centre, set the plants in it eight inches apart, then cover the root to the same depth as in the nursery. If the ground is rough or cloddy, roll or harrow, or both. Plow well with the double shovel and hoe them well for the first and second years, then use the turning plow. If good-sized plants the first year, they may be plowed the second by the turning plow. I find a ditch on either side the hedge essential, to make the roots strike downward and not spread when the plow runs near them. If there is no ditch the roots will be broken by the plow and then sprout and spread. If the land is not tilled the ditch is unnecessary. If made at all it should be finished by the third year. I do not trim hedges until the third year, when, if of sufficient size, I cut the plants half off and bend them down along the row. The young shoots will again start where the plant is cut off, and when cut form the height of the fence, while the ones bent down stop all holes. If not well trimmed the young shoots will shade those bent down so much as to cause decay. The cost of hedge fence varies according to its width and the manner in which it is tended. As I set them it takes 2,000 to 80 rods, costing near here $2 50 per thousand, making $5 to 80 rods. The labor of setting, etc., about $6. Therefore it will cost about 20 cents per rod for setting hedge, including cost of plants. After being set it will cost 20 cents per rod to till and trim the hedge, which should be trimmed once or twice each year after the 3d or 4th year. With machines there would be little expense in keeping up the hedge once well started. I prefer rails for cross fences, as they are often moved. A rail fence costs at least $1 25 per rod, if made out of good rails, such as oak, ash, walnut and red elm. A board fence costs $1 35 or $1 40 per rod, if of oak; more if of pine lumber. Where one is fencing against cattle and horses only, a three-board fence will answer, and will last until a hedge fence can be made. Hedge fences are the cheapest the farmer can have, and afford good protection to stock and fruit. Orchard trees are much less liable to blow down when a hedge protects them from the wind. I think and am sure that in any part of the country where the land is not fenced, it would be much cheaper to fence for pasture to keep stock in, than to fence the whole of the land in order to keep stock out of the farms. S. JButler.—R&il fence costs $5 per hundred. We, as a general thing, fence out stock, and keep it up if we choose. D. Gove.—I have tried all kinds of wooden fences, and at best they require a great deal of repairing to make them safe. I have also had considerable experience in hedging; and it is just the fence for this prairie country. It will cost less to make it and keep it in repair than any other fence, and it bids defiance to high winds or any kind of stock. It can be made sufficiently strong to turn any kind of stock for 75 cents per rod, and can be