1885.] AMERICAN THOUGHT AND ACTION. 421 



larches and Scotch pine trees about 21 feet high on the average, 

 and averaging about 7 feet distance apart. The trees were taken 

 from a nursery about one-half a mile distant, and v?ere dug by one 

 squad of students while another squad planted them. The holes 

 were dug about 15 inches deep, and after planting, the soil on the 

 upper side of the tree was moved to the lower side so as to form a 

 small basin to catch the water as it ran down the hill. Nothing 

 was done in the way of fertilizing them, and very few died. This 

 fall, a flagstaff' for the experiment station barn was cut from one of 

 the larches, measuring 30 feet long, 1 inches at the butt, and 2j 

 inches at the small end ; many more were larger, and the average 

 li eight of the larches will not be far from 38 feet, and 6 inches thick 

 at the base. Scotch pine trees planted at the same time have not 

 reached as much height, but perhaps have a larger diameter at the 

 base, and have produced more branches. 



In 1870, a lot of white pine seedlings, taken from an old pasture 

 some distance away, were planted along a hedgerow, where an old 

 Viriiinia fence had been removed. The ground was full of all sorts 

 of brush roots, which made the digging of the Iwles very laborious. 

 Three rows of trees were planted 5 feet apart, the trees being at 

 that time about 3 feet high. None of them died, and now their 

 average height is 33 feet, and the diameter is about 9 inches. 



Selecting land best suited for the kind of tree to be grown, — light 

 land for the larch and pines, and heavier land for the ash, hickory, 

 black walnut, etc.,- — it is to be lined off in 4, 5, or 6 feet rows, 

 according to the kind, and if the land be brushy would cut enough 

 of the brush along the line for comfortable working. The best way 

 to remove the small brush like the low blueberry, sheep's laurel, etc., 

 is with a wide and sharp bog-hoe in the fall or winter, when the 

 ground and brush are frozen. In this way all the small brush may 

 be cut so close to the ground that many of them will not start, and 

 grass and herbaceous plants will have a chance to grow, thus choking 

 out many more. A man with proper tools — a stout spade and bar 

 and a bog-hoe with a pick on one end — will dig a great many holes 

 in a day. In a piece of newly-cleared land, where the rocks were 

 as thick as they will average in our hillside pastures and full of 

 roots of large trees, a man last spring dug 250 holes per day for 

 planting apple and peach trees. 



After the trees are planted the brush or other coarse material 

 should be drawn around the trees to prevent the loss of moisture. 



Professor Maynard has for several years past taken the position 

 that with the use of chemical fertilizers, consisting of a few handfuls 

 of fine ground bone, or bone and potash, to the soil used in filling 

 round the roots of the tree at planting, with mulching, and the 



