An arbor vitse hedge separating the vegetable garden from the lawn, occupying more than six feet in width of valuable ground and having become somewhat dilapidated from its thirty years of service, was removed and a galvanized buckthorn fence with eight strands or rails (it is not wire) attached to planed and painted locust posts five feet high, was put in its place. Climbing roses of various kinds were set about eight feet apart along the whole line; after two seasons'growth they cover the fence completely; many of them having been cut back four or five feet the past summer.

The barbs on the buckthorn fencing, without being so sharp as to make the training of the rose shoots unpleasant, are yet sufficiently prominent to prevent the shoots from slipping, so that no tying is necessary if they are interlaced through the rails.

The corner or straining posts were mortised into pieces of locust seven or eight feet long, and the braces, also of locust, notched in at such height that they are entirely under ground.

A rose hedge is thus quickly and cheaply made, is a far better barrier, more ornamental, less expense for its yearly care than a hedge, and occupies six inches instead of six feet in width of land.

Some of the stronger growing sorts of roses would be better ten or twelve feet apart.

Rahway, Feb. 16th, 1885.

[The idea of combining barbed wire fences with live plants opens up such a wide range of possibilities that it is bound to grow, and we shall no doubt see Osage orange and other plants that require continual labor to keep them within bounds, completely abandoned. Any bush strong enough to hold a wire, will make a permanent fence, and then we have hundreds of things to choose from. - Ed. G. M].