28 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



periods of drought to the disfiguring attacks of the red 

 spider. The Norway maple, however, surpasses in the 

 beauty of its abundant flowers all American maples. The 

 only European oak much planted here is the English oak 

 (^Qiiercus robur'), a near relative of our Avhite oak (^Querciis 

 alba), but for us inferior to it in every wa}^ The English 

 oaks which grow here look, at their best, but poor and 

 cramped compared with the American species ; nor do they 

 promise to ever attain in this country the great age for 

 which in Europe they are famous : indeed, the life of an 

 English oak here in New England rarely exceeds fifty years. 



In addition to the white oak we have, at least, ten other 

 species to select from, all differing in foliage and habit suffi- 

 ciently to satisfy the most capricious arboriculturist. Of the 

 oaks not found in our own immediate region, the overcup- 

 oak (^Quercus macrocarpa), or, as it is in some places called, 

 the burr-oak, the pin-oak (^Quercus palustris), and others 

 growing in adjacent States, are perfectly hardy, and should 

 be more extensively planted. The burr-oak is more valua- 

 ble, perhaps, than our white oak for certain mechanical pur- 

 poses, as the wood in the ground resists decay longer, proba- 

 bly, than that of any American species. 



Comparisons might be continued between American and 

 European trees. We might compare the walnuts and 

 beeches of the Old and New World, and arrrive at the same 

 conclusions, or the American chestnut with its European 

 representative ; but it is hardly necessary to extend these 

 comparisons further. 



The examples already given will direct attention to the 

 fact, that, while there is at hand a supply of trees in every 

 way better adapted for plantations in New England, the 

 European species most nearly related to them are far too 

 generally planted in their stead. Our nurserymen should 

 pay more attention to this subject, and produce a supply of 

 trees better adapted to the needs of the climate and soil; 

 for, after all, it is to the nurseries that the majority of per- 

 sons must resort for the plants they need ; and the want of 

 knowledge on the part of most buyers prevents them from 

 making a judicious selection for their plantations. It is 

 therefore important that the proprietors of nurseries should 

 be persons of wide Information, and scrupulously careful in 



