190 American Hortlcu/tural Society. 



With these preliminary remarks, we pass on to the subject of preparation 

 of the ground for the work in hand. Break the ground in the latter part of 

 May or June, but not later than July 10; plant the breaking the following 

 year to wheat or flax. After harvesting the crop of grain in the fall plow 

 the ground deep and thorough; pulverize well with harrow. If the ground 

 has been well broken and cropped and the cross plowing well done, the 

 ground is now in as good a condition for i)lanting as is necessary'; if not, 

 plant the ground to grain one year more. 



Presuming the ground to be under as good cultivation as is desired, we are 

 now ready to plant our one year old seedlings or seed, as the case may be. 

 Let us for a moment consider the subject of seeds, which we may divide 

 into three parts, viz., nuts, hard seeds and soft seeds. The nuts should be 

 planted where they are to grow, as the trees grown from nut species do not 

 usually transplant well, commonly having a long tap root. All nut seeds 

 should be planted in the fall, as soon after they are ripe as possible. Great 

 care should be exercised not to allow nuts to get dry before planting. The 

 same caution should be observed to prevent them heating or molding. Thin- 

 shelled nuts dry very soon, even in a few hours. Should the circumstances 

 be such that it is not convenient to plant the nuts in the fall, they can be 

 successfully wintered by placing them on the ground in the shade of build- 

 ings, fences, or a temporary shelter may be made to keep them from the 

 sun's rays during the winter. Spread them out in thin layers with earth or 

 sand thoroughly mixed among them, and the whole covered with coarse lit- 

 ter of leaves or hay. Care should be taken to prevent their freezing up dry. 

 This may be avoided by pouring on a sufficient amount of water just before 

 freezing up. 



Hard seeds are slow to germinate and should be soaked a long time, frozen 

 wet or scalded before planting, or to be subjected to some action to hasten 

 germination. This class embraces honey-locust, osage orange, coffee beans, 

 etc. The soft seeds, comprising soft and hard maple, box elder, elms, green 

 and black ash, white ash, basswood, sycamore, etc., some of which seeds ripen 

 in May, while others ripen in the fall. The best treatmfent of these seeds is 

 to plant them as soon as ripe, in nursery rows, about an inch deep, rolling 

 the ground as soon as planted. 



I would advise planting all soft seeds in seed-beds or nursery rows and cul- 

 tivate for one year, then transplant at one year of age. In planting, my cus- 

 tom has been to mark the ground, after plowing, harrowing, etc., with a 

 marker made as if for marking ground for corn planting; the rows are to be 

 four feet apart. . Cross the first rows at right angles with the marker and plant 

 in the corners, thus placing the trees four feet apart each way, making a lit- 

 tle over 2,700 trees to the acre. 



The best and at the same time the most expeditious way to plant one year 

 old deciduous trees, is to place a spade in the corners of the marks perpen- 

 dicularly, placing the foot on the spade and pressing the spade into the 

 ground the whole length of the blade ; then i)ush the spade from you and 



