PROTECT YOUNG SEEDLINGS. 155 



forest school, that the young men may have an opportunity 

 to stud}' the tree iu every position and in every condition. I 

 found the place that he had selected to plant oaks was a little 

 opening among oak trees, — a noble forest, with high trees on 

 every side. The seed is planted in this spot, where the trees 

 protect them from the sun, except for half an hour or an hour 

 in the hottest part of the day ; they are partially protected 

 almost the whole time. That is a matter of very great impor- 

 tance, very much greater than it is commonly considered. If 

 you are going to plant seeds, the fruit of trees, in a place 

 which is not protected, it will be always advisable to have a 

 hedge or a fence built up between them and the sun, so that 

 they shall not be exposed to the full heat of summer. 



These are the most important things that I have to say in 

 regard to that. I could talk longer if you were willing to 

 listen, because this is a matter iu which I feel the greatest 

 interest — which I have felt for many years; 



Col. Saltonstall. AVould you not advise the obtaining 

 of small trees from nurseries, Avhere the planting is not to be 

 done on a very large scale, as a matter of economy? 



Mr. Emeesox. Certainly I would. Plant the trees in 

 your nurseries. But this essential thing has commonly been 

 disregarded in many nurseries, — that the plant, when it comes 

 up, should be very much protected from the sun. 



Mr. Wetherell. It is often said that the leaves are 

 colored by the frost. Is that true ? 



Mr. Emersox. That is a matter I have been observinsr 

 for forty years or more. The only effect of the frost upon 

 all leaves is to injure very much, and presently destroy, their 

 beauty. The frost never produces the beauty of any leaf. It 

 is something else. I cannot tell why the trees of Massa- 

 chusetts are incomparably more beautiful in the fall of the 

 year than the trees of Europe. It is something in our soil, 

 or in our atmosphere, which produces that change. The frost 

 has nothing to do with it, except that when the frost comes, it 

 puts an end to all the beauty of the trees. 



Questiox. I would like to know the best method of trans- 

 planting trees. 



Mr. Emerson. One thing is essential. Do not transplant 

 any tree, except a pine, as long as the leaves are on it. Then 



