GARDENS AND FENCES IN NEW ZEALAND.

North Otago Times, Volume VI, Issue 106, 1 March 1866, Page 3

GARDENS AND FENCES IN NEW ZEALAND.

The following interesting remarks relative to the choice of live fences for growth in this colony, are taken from the " Journal of Horticulture and Cottage Gardiner" : — We have little doubt but that the holly would thrive well as a fence in New Zealand, more especially if some twclvo inches of the yellow soil were trenched up and incorporated partly with surface soil, say 2 or 3 inches mixed up with the rich soil, and the rest kept mostly at the bottom. No plant makes a better hedge than the holly, and after it is established it needs but little care, ns tho annual growth is so short nnd stubby. As to the management : as the seeds are a long time vegetating, it is best to treat them much like thono of tho hawthorn. Mix them, with earth or sand in a heap and turn them now and then until all tho fleshy covering is rotted, which will take a good part of the season, then tho seeds may be flppnrated from tho earth by sifting and sown in nicely pulverised beds, and covered with half an ineli of fine soil. If the weather should be very hot, after sowing it would bo advisable to cover the bed with fern or other litter to keep the seeds moist and cool. Your hent will bo the worst enemy to the young hollies. We advise thus sowing in beds, as they will be the moi'O easily protected from bird**. If the seeds are imported, it would bo best to wash them free of pulp, dry them well, and sow at once. In the second year after thus sowing, the young plants may bo transplanted for another year into rows one foot apart. Before doing so wo would bring some of the surrounding rich soil, slightly mixed with the under soil so m to give a depth of at least two feet 5 if more, all tho better. Thus treated, wo believe the holly will grow with great vigour. Little attention will be required, except stopping Iho plant* that grow more strongly than their neighbors, and any very strong shoot, .that threatens to rob or take the strength from tho lowest tier of branches. These should be encouraged so as to stand out from 18 to 24 inches from the stem. Tho wedge-shape will thus be secured, which will give tho most impenetrable fence and with the least amotint of trouble in the way of cutting and training. Prom 3fr to 4 feet across at tho base, would do for a hedge from 5 to 6 feet in height, and some 12 or 15 inches wide at top. The hedge may be perpendicular on each side, and as wide at top as bottom if deemed advisable, as th» plant may be trained to any shape. If cut or pruned often, the outside becomes impenetrable even to birds. Tho Osage Oranpre (Madura aurantiaco), wo have no doubt would thrive in New Zealand, and it is easily propagated by layers, and bv cutting the roots into pieces and planting them. We have never seen a good hedge of it. One circumstance might account for this. Like some other plants, it is apt to keep

up a lingering exigence if the first shoots are retained on the plant ; but if, after the first or second season's growth, these shoots aro cut down to a bud or two, strong shoots ■will bo thrown out the next season, and these, if stopped when from five 1o six feet long, might form a den*o fence. "We Rhould imagine the climato would be more suitable for it than either England or North America. Hero it will not eompeto with the White Thorn in general, though, if we had nothing else, it might be coaxed into a good hedge fence. The common laurel (Dcrasus laurocerasus) would greatly exceed the Portugal in growth, and in New Zealand climate would mount up with great rapidity. The difficulty would bo the annual cutting, to keep it in bounds as a fence, but the cutting would give a great amount of firewood. Multitudes of plants could be easily obtained, first by seeds, second by layers, but more quickly by cuttings. As soon as tho summer's growth is over, take off the young shoots, with a littlo bit of tho provious growth ; shorten the cuttings to some seven or eight inches, and plant the half in the soil firmly, placing them in rows a few inches apart ; if in a shady place all the better. By the following spring most of them will bo rooted, and many fit to transplant in the autumn.