The buckthorn has the advantage of great hardiness, thick growth, and
easy propagating and transplanting, and requires but a moderate amount
of cutting back. But the growth is not stout enough to resist unruly
animals, unless in very rich soils, and even a moderate amount of
cutting back is an objection to farmers.
The cost of buckthorn hedges, including the preparation of a strip of
soil five feet wide, purchase of plants, setting, and occasional horse
cultivation on each side, was about twenty-five cents a rod the first
year. The yearly cultivation and cutting back, until the hedge had
reached full size, was three or four cents a rod. Though the buckthorn
has nearly passed out of use on account of its inefficiency, it is not
impossible that it may be extensively planted when cultivators find that
it may be converted into an efficient barrier by inclosing two or three
barbed wires extending its length through the interior--these wires,
supported on occasional posts, being successively placed in position as
the hedge increases in height, the branches growing around the wires and
holding them immovably in position.
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