154 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



maples grew a great deal better than any of the maples of our 

 country, except the white maple. The English elm grows 

 better than the American elm, and it has a great deal more 

 foliage. So it is with all the others. It is almost universally 

 true that the European trees have a great deal more foliage, 

 cast a very much deeper shade, and hold their leaves a great 

 deal longer, bringing them out earlier in the spring and 

 holding them much longer in the autumn, than our American 

 trees. 



Mr. Brown. I look upon this subject as a very important 

 and interesting one. I was querying which is the best way 

 of propagating these various kinds of trees, whether by trans- 

 planting, or whether any of them can be raised from seed — 

 the sugar-maple, for instance. I think a few hints in that 

 regard will be interesting and instructive. 



Mr. Emeeson. I shall be very glad to speak about that. 

 In the first place, I say that every one of our native trees may 

 be propagated by seed. 1 have tried so many of them that I 

 have no hesitation in saying that every one of our native trees 

 may be propagated with perfect certainty, if you only know 

 how to take care of them. A tree speaks for itself, generally, 

 as to the time the seed should be planted. When a seed falls 

 to the ground, it ftills to produce another tree. When, there- 

 fore, the seeds are ripe and fall to the ground, that is the 

 time to sow them. As to the mode of sowing them, you can 

 sow them in the field, just as you do a crop of corn, taking 

 care not to cover them too deep, and taking care to have them 

 protected. I have heard of a man (and I was very sorry not 

 to go and see him) who had sown a quantity of seeds in a 

 field of rye, and the rye protected those little trees that 

 sprang up perfectly, and the owner let the rye stay till the 

 next spring, to protect them. Here is a hint that the trees 

 give us of how they ought to be planted. The oak-tree lets 

 its acorns fall on the ground, and there they take root. The 

 same thing is true of almost all our trees ; not all ; they grow 

 best under their mother's care, under her protection. In 

 Germany I went to a great forest school, thirty miles from 

 Berlin, and the superintendent carried me around and showed 

 me how they planted their oaks. I found a magnificent 

 forest of several hundred acres that has been given up to this 



