242 PROCEEDINGS OF THE CALIFORNIA 



bought young for transplanting. These trees should be planted at 

 least during the first year of growth, and they will take root and 

 not be easily overthrown. When kept in pots too long, the roots 

 become deformed ; this is the reason why some people think they 

 will not grow. The easiest and best way to cultivate these trees 

 is, to take a box filled with sandy soil nearly to the top, and the re- 

 mainder covered with sawdust ; wet the sawdust slightly, throw the 

 seed over it and gently rap the box with the hand. Keep this 

 under a piece of paper or in the shade, and when the seeds sprout 

 they can be taken out like a small cabbage plant and set out at 

 leisure. 



Dr. Stout said that they should not be supported by a rod or 

 stick placed too close to the trunk, since it prevented the branches 

 from growing on the side where the support was. 



Mr. Stearns remarked that objections have been made to the 

 Acacias and Eucalypts by persons who have planted them in the 

 neighborhood of San Francisco, for the reason as alleged that 

 they do not withstand the winds. So far as the observations 

 of myself and others who have investigated the matter extend, it 

 is really surprising that so few are prostrated. The fault is not 

 with the trees but the purchaser ; as trees of from four to six feet 

 in height are sold at a low price, they are bought by parties who 

 require only a few, in preference to smaller trees, as they make a 

 greater immediate show. As most of the growth of the trees as 

 usually purchased, after having attained a height of six inches, has 

 been made in the pot or box in which they are sold by the dealers, 

 it will readily be perceived that the tap-root which in a natural 

 state descends, is diverted from a perpendicular into a rotary direc- 

 tion, analogous to a spiral spring, and is also crossed and recrossed 

 on itself — with the liability as it increases in size to strangle the 

 tree by one portion of this root making a short-turn or twist upon 

 another part of the same, or by being wound about and restricted 

 by the lateral roots. It is therefore apparent that the better poUcy 

 would be, even where only a few trees are wanted, (and this re- 

 mark applies with equal pertinence to all trees) that other things 

 being equal — such as comely shape and healthy condition — the 

 younger and smaller trees are really cheaper at the same price 

 than the larger, and can generally be obtained for much less. For 

 forest culture the smaller trees are indispensable to success. 



