48 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



I \ras delighted to see a stateinent in one of our exchanges, 

 that in England the growth of forest-trees had nearly dou- 

 bled -within comparatively few years ; and that leads me to 

 say, that I agree with all that has been said in the essay in 

 regard to the Scotch larch. I believe there are thousands of 

 acres upon which the Scotch larch ought to be planted. I 

 do not like the American larch as well. The Scotch larch 

 will adapt itself to all localities. If you have a Scotch-larch 

 plantation, you can cut down the smaller trees, which will 

 be useful as fence-poles, bean-poles, and for such purposes, 

 until 3'ou have sufficiently thinned it out, and then the 

 larger trees become very valuable for timber. I believe also 

 in chestnut-trees. I do not know as I do in our locality, 

 where the boj'^s pound them so badly in order to get the 

 chestnuts. I think there are a great many acres of rocky 

 land that are now pasture-lands, or possibly are covered 

 with bushes, on which the American chestnut should be 

 planted. Go into the market, and see how chestnuts sell: 

 there is nothing, perhaps, that sells better than the edible 

 chestnuts. They will reproduce themselves almost exactly. 

 If 3''0u intend planting them, you should select the large- 

 sized chestnuts, keep them moist through the winter, and 

 plant them in the spring where 3'ou want them to grow. It 

 is rather unsafe to plant them in the fall, because the squir- 

 rels will be likely to get them. You will soon have a plan- 

 tation of clean trees, which in a few years will give you a 

 fine crop of nuts, which will bring you a good sum of money. 



This leads me to say another word. You may say, " You 

 are planting for posterity." Well, if somebody had not 

 planted for us, we should not be enjoying the blessings we 

 have at the present time. My father planted shellbai'k-trees, 

 and from those trees I gather nuts to-day. The walnut-tree 

 fades a magnificent yellow in the autumn. 



Question. How do you set out your trees? 



INIr. IIVDE. The chestnuts and walnuts should not be 

 planted in the autumn, as I said, because the squirrels will 

 get the most of them. Keep them moist: do not keep them 

 wet ; if 3'ou do, they will rot. Then plant them in the spring, 

 and, during the first season, dig away on one side of the 

 young tree with a sharp spade (although we have an in- 

 strument that we have prepared for this purpose), and cut 



