SECRETARY'S PORTFOLIO. 515 



Suggestions Concerning Grove Planting. — Mr. Henry Ives, in the New- 

 York Tribune, gives excellent practical hints with reference to the planting of 

 timber groves: 



In deciding where to plant, the principal grove should occupy grounds to 

 the windward of buildings, garden and orchard, if possible, to shelter from 

 the most prevailing winds, which here in Western New York are from west 

 southwest. Also plant out rows along the highways bordering on the farm, 

 double rows are better, one, say, of maple just inside the fence, and the other 

 some six to nine feet in the road (as the law allows), and these should be elm, 

 being less liable to injury than other varieties, and these I believe our State 

 laws protect the farmer in growing more than it does his fruit trees on the 

 farm. Such rows when gotten well to growing will add much to the value of 

 any farm. Every farmer should also allow himself ample grounds for a lawn 

 extending to quite a breadth from the front of the farm residence, and at 

 rather wide intervals on this plant the greatest variety possible, interspersing 

 evergreen with the deciduous trees. 



Beside these, any farmer who thought he could afford to should put a belt 

 of timber along the western border of the farm or fields ; if only consisting of 

 from two to four rows of trees they would soon grow to be a great protection 

 to crops in such fields ; a good crop of wheat and a good clover catch often 

 depend almost wholly on such protection. For such a planting the oak or 

 hickory are best for the first row along the border line, and between each of 

 these plant one or two evergreens (the native white cedar is about the best for 

 this purpose). These growing close to the ground and about filling the space 

 up to the limbs of the other treetops will make a more effectual barrier against 

 winds. 



In preparing to propagate the principal plantation of timber it should be 

 tilled and worked out straight, as for corn or potatoes. Then take one row in 

 every five or six, or about a rod apart, wholly for trees, giving them the same 

 tillage that the farm crop receives, and alternate these crops (corn and pota- 

 toes) from year to year, to give the trees the benefit of such tillage until they 

 are large enough to seed the grounds down. For growing rows of the common 

 native trees, such as maple, basswood, elm, ash and the like, plant small seed- 

 lings not more than two feet apart in the row, to grow so for the first few 

 years, but as the oak, walnut, chestnut and butternut are all more valuable 

 timbers, it will be desirable to plant largely of these nut-bearing varieties, and 

 with proper management these can be grown quite as eas'ily as the others. 

 The main requirement is to plant the nuts where the trees are to grow, so as 

 to avoid transplanting where there is such a formidable taproot to be managed 

 as all these nut-bearing trees will have. 



In doing this the nuts should be taken soon after first gathering and 

 either planted into the rows where they are to grow, or else spread on the 

 ground to be kept moist and freeze and thaw enough in the winter to insure 

 the cracking open of the shell, so that when the seed (meat) swells for grow- 

 ing in spring it will make its way out, otherwise it will lie dormant the first 

 season and perhaps grow after having another winter freezing to open it. 

 But it is best in all cases to use plenty of seed so that if only a part of it 

 grows there will still be enough for a full stand of trees, which should at the 

 first be as many as one to every ten or fifteen inches, and these in following 

 years may be reduced by removing the poorest specimens. Following out 

 nature's plan of "survival of the fittest," this thick planting of all the 



