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braces any new land, it is best to rake or burn off the leaves and twigs, or plow deep enough to mix sufficient earth with the light, leafy matter on the surface, to counteract its chaffiness. Where it crosses any low wet spots, throw up a bank with the spade, leaving a ditch on the lower side sufficient to drain the bank to the depth of from three to four feet. Let all this be done as early in the fall as prac

ticable.

If intended to enclose woodland, to remain as such, a space of at least sixty feet must be cleared for the hedge row, as this plant will bear no shade. It is not necessary to fence it in from stock roaming at large, as they rarely injure it. A range of poles, raised two or three feet upon forks, immediately over the plant, will be all sufficient.

River-bottom lands must be drained to grow good hedges. The bank of any ditch that drains the land to the depth of three feet, the contents of which form the bank will answer well. Occasional flooding of two or three days duration we have never found injurious. Standing-water, however would inevitably destroy the plant.

Prairie-land must be broken up during the previous May or June, to the width of thirty or more feet; then bed up in the fall, as above directed, preparatory to planting.

At any time, when the condition of the soil will admit, from the first of November until the first of March, but the earlier the better, plant the cuttings. These are to consist of pieces, from twelve to fifteen inches long, of strong shoots of the previous summer's growth, cut with a sharp knife or a pair of those stout shears made on purpose for rose pruning and which make a draw cut-not chopped into lengths with a hatchet. This may be done during wet weather, assorting the cuttings with the tops all one way and burying them half their length in moist ground until wanted; but it is better to set them out as they are cut from the plants. If the cuttings are to be transported to a distance, they may be packed closely in a box or barrel with alternate layers of moss from old logs made moist but not wet.

After staking out or marking with a line or otherwise, the intended line of hedge, trundle along it a wheel made of two inch plank, three feet in circumference, in the edge of which is inserted a stout peg, which of course will make a hole every three feet. Let any requisite number of hands with spades, dig small trenches at each of the peg-marks, say fifteen inches long (across the hedge-row) ten inches wide and ten deep. One steady hand follows with a basket of cuttings, and inserts three in each trench, at least two-thirds of their length in the ground, drawing in some of the loose dirt with his foot and pressing it firmly to the base of the cuttings. If the soil is good, the trenches may then be filled up, by other hands following with hoes, and pressed down lightly with the foot; but if poor. or thin, let the trenches, by all means, be filled up with rich compost, or cowpen manure, from a cart which should follow the one who plants.

It has been objected to this mode of planting that it entails considerable labor and some care; and that the distance between the cuttings is too great. When the object to be obtained is considered—that of forming a permanent and cheap fence, and within as short a period as possible-the care and labor requisite do not deserve a thought. If true in any instance, that what is worth doing at all, is worth doing well, it is assuredly true in this. The writer planted in this manner, filling every trench with compost, at the rate of fully one-third of a mile per day, with five ordinary hands and one cart. The land was very poor, yet the result is a most promising young hedge, without a gap in the whole. The increased distance between the plants is indispensable to a vigorous, hardy growth; not a tithe of the cuttings are needed; the work can be done in a much more perfect manner; and the after tending is materially lessened and facilitated.

Immediately after working over the corn the first time, throw a light farrow to the young rose plants, moulding with the hoe and carefully cutting out or covering every weed and sprig of grass. At the next tending, which should not be delayed long enough to permit any part of the hedge-row to become foul, draw out the extra plants in each trench, leaving only one, and taking care not to loosen the earth round the roots of that one in pulling out the others. The cultivator used twice and the hoes once, after this, will suffice.

At some time during the following fall or winter, let a careful hand cut off, with a sharp knife or a pair of rose-shears, every sprout or shoot, to within a foot of the ground. Early in the spring bed to the plants with a good turning plow, to the width of four feet on each side, previously top-dressing the poor spots with any convenient manure. Once during the summer let the hands lay up the shoots, which will be numerous and strong, lengthwise of the hedge, using light forks, and pressing the shoots down. This must be done again in the fall and winter, when the ground on each side should be again plowed. After which no further tending will be requisite, other than to chop down weeds and briars twice during the summer, laying up the shoots snug by, as before, until the hedge has heighth and width of .base sufficient. To this it must be limited by the use of light bill-hooks, with long handles, each winter.

We have had satisfactory assurance that stronger and more vigorous plants are produced from seed than from cuttings; and that the seeds vegetate rapidly under proper management. Seed is produced abundantly; it can be easily obtained and transported to any part of the country, and it can be sowed in less time than cuttings can be properly planted; requiring, however, much more care in the after tending during the first year. Except in the facility of transportation to a distance, not much is gained by the use of seed instead of cuttings. The hips must be gathered during November, mixed with two or three times their bulk of sand or mellow earth, and kept in a cool, damp cellar or pit until the beginning of February, when they must be picked or sifted out, and rubbed to pieces, so as to separate the seeds from the husk. The ground having been prepared as for

planting cuttings, half a dozen seeds may be dropped at the distance recommended and covered with half an inch of loose soil, the dropper then pressing the spot lightly with his foot. They will soon sprout and grow, and must be then kept completely clear of weeds-seedling roses will bear no shade of that kind. The surplus plants had better be pulled up, leaving only two or three in a place; one only being left, the next spring, to form the hedge.

Unless where their scarcity may render it an object, it is better not to transplant either from seeds or cuttings. Nothing is, otherwise, gained by it, and the labor is much greater than in planting cuttings, Layers make strong plants, but we do not use them, for the reason given above.

We will close by remarking that the cutting and seeds of the Cherokee Rose may be obtained in many parts of the country. In the vicinity of New Orleans, Natchez, Bayou Sara, Baton Rouge and many other points on the Mississippi; and of Charleston, S. C., Savannah, Geo., Mobile, Ala., etc., etc., they can be procured, we presume, without the slightest difficulty and at but trifling expense. To those subscribers to the Review who may not be able, otherwise, to procure them, and especially to residents of the prairies of Texas, we will with pleasure forward cuttings or seeds, being put to no expense in the matter. T. A.

ART. IV.-POLITICAL ECONOMY.

In our last number we considered the nature of labor in reference to its physical and moral uses. We also noticed the effects of an unequal distribution of useful employment upon the members of a community, and likewise the importance of directing the application of labor to such objects as are best calculated to preserve and improve the natural wealth of the country.

In resuming the latter branch of this subject, we shall proceed to discuss some of the causes which tend to divert both labor and capital from those employments which we regard as most conducive to the general good.

If we examine the history of the world we shall discover that far the greater part of mankind have ever been more disposed to submit to their condition, than to make any great effort to remove the evils which oppress them. Laws, customs, and pursuits give tone to the sentiment, direction to the genius, and form the habits of the people of every country, and under the operation of these influences, individuals form their plans of life, and schemes of happiness. Hence, the great difficulty of effecting any important change in either their morals or pursuits. We must convince them of their errors and remove their prejudices before they can appreciate the benefits proposed by a change of their condition; and when we have even convinced their judgment, there still remain their strong affection for venerated customs, and the influence of former habits and associations,

which constitute part of their nature, and lie beyond the reach of argument, and can only be subdued or overcome by great minds, or by the influence of some pressing necessity. Indeed, necessity arising from the laws that govern man's nature, may be regarded as among the great agents of civilization. The inherent propensity in man to propagate his species, and the love for his offspring, tend continually to increase the numbers beyond the means of subsistence, so that the physical wants induced by increase of population, call into action the mental faculties which were designed by the Creator to aid man in the discovery of those inexhaustible sources of subsistence which were provided for his support in a civilized state.

It is natural that the first remove from a state of barbarism should be the most difficult, being ignorant of all the arts and advantages of civilization, no desire could arise in the mind of man for its attainment. Hence, even at the present time, a large portion of the earth is inhabited by people who have not yet emerged from the hunter's state. It may be asked, how have these so long avoided that necessity which arises from the increase of population? We answer, by wars of extermination waged between different tribes, for the possession of the best hunting ground, and other barbarous customs calculated to prevent the increase of numbers. There are three states distinctly defined in the history of man, namely, that of the hunter, the shepherd, and the agricultural—the first two necessarily preceding the era of written history. Consequently, the nature of that necessity which urged a few small tribes to take the initiatory step in the progress of civilization can never be correctly known, and we are left to infer the causes which gave rise to this necessity, from the economy of man's nature, and from the influences which control him in a savage state.

Suppose a peninsular such as Greece, Italy or Yucatan inhabited by one tribe of barbarians, and a more powerful one in possession of the continent in their rear, preventing, by their hostility, the inhabitants of the peninsular from changing their hunting ground. The game upon the peninsular would, in time, become insufficient to support the increase of population. In such circumstances the idea of protecting those animals used for food, from the depredations of the beasts of prey, would naturally occur, and acting upon this suggestion, the transition from the hunter to the shepherd's state, would be easy and natural. But this state could not long continue, for the increase of population would, in time, demand a further increase of food; and necessity, stimulating the mental faculties, reason would point to agriculture as the great source of human subsistence, and man would become a tiller of the ground.

This supposition appears still more plausible when we consider the fact that European civilization made its first appearance in Greece and Italy; and also that the monumental ruins of Yucatan warrant the conclusion that the civil arts which in many respects obtained a high degree of perfection on this continent, had their origin in that peninsular.

It is worthy of observation, that although it would appear that these distinctive states or conditions had been resolved into one by the influence of civilization; yet in its progress from east to west, or we might say in the settlement of all new countries, the elements of these three states of society have a natural tendency to separate. The pioneer is a hunter, feeding upon the flesh of wild animals and clothing himself with their skins; and were he not followed by the other classes it is probable that he would totally abandon the arts of civil life.

Next follows the herdsman, relying upon the spontaneous productions of the land for the subsistence of his cattle. And then comes the tiller of the ground, and in obedience to the divine injunction, extracts the means of subsistence from the hidden treasures of the earth, and thus prepares the way for the artist and manufacturer. But in process of time the game and the range disappear; and for want of these sources of subsistence, the hunter and the herdsman cease to exist as distinct classes. In these migrations from east to west, the manufacturer and the artist remain far in the rear-for the reason that in newly settled and thinly inhabited countries they cannot find that constant and certain employment which is necessary to their prosperity. And from this cause the producers of food, and the producers of clothing, and other comforts of civilized life, become separated at a great distance from each other; and to remedy this inconvenience commerce is constituted the agent of both parties in the exchange of their respective products. This is a natural condition, induced by the progress of civilization from east to west, and until the entire continent shall have been settled by civilized man, the current of commerce must continue to flow in the same direction, carrying with it the manufactures of the east and returning with the agricultural staples of the west. Hence, therefore, commerce may be ranked among the most important elements of civilization, and as such, the principles upon which it is based, and the limit to which it may be encouraged without violence to the prosperity of the producing classes are subjects highly interesting to every class of the community.

Commerce seems to require a local basis of operation, from which, as from a common centre, the distant enterprises flow, and to which the profits return. These great stations attract the capital from every part of the earth within the range of their operations; and the manufacturer and the artist also establish themselves here for the convenience of distributing their wares.

Every extension of the circle of which this basis is the centre, serves to enlarge the volume of commerce and to increase the demand for the products of the manufacturer and artist at this point. Those engaged in commerce do not generally consider that it is of any disadvantage to their interest that the producer and consumer are located at a great distance from each other; nor is it believed that the artist and manufacturer suffer any considerable degree of detriment or incon venience from this cause, so long as they remain without competition in their respective vocations, at the distant points. But as we proceed from this centre or basis of operation, the inconvenience and disadvantages to the producers of pro

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