812 



THE QARDENEB'H MONTHLY 



[July, 



wht'if it liit.s licen tiictl, it is liy no inoiuis popu- 

 lar. But wo can endorse all that is said of the 

 White Pine. We are not sure, hut tlie Larch is 

 nearly as uncertain as the Sootcli Tine. In many 

 places the wood seems to he e.xcollent, but there 

 are othera where it ia nearly worthless: — 



"The premium offered by the Massachusetts 

 Society for Promoting Agriculture, for forest 

 planting, seems to stimulate the inquiry where 

 the Scotch Larch and Scotch Pine can he pro- 

 cured. Abundant information is offered in the 

 advertising columns of the press, so that none 

 need he at a loss where to procure it. 



" Xo more evidence is required as to the adapt- 

 ability of the Scotch Larch as a forest tree. Spe- 

 <;imens of this tree are to be seen in nearly every 

 town in the State. We fully believe that 50 

 cords or more of fuel may be grown in 25 years 

 from the seed of this tree, per acre, on good land; 

 as it is easy to prove that that rate of growth has 

 been made on poor land. It is literally Ji tree 

 adapted to poor soils. 



" A similar remark applies also to the Scotch 

 Pine, for .specimens in full vigor are not rare 

 even on very barren soils. We would also urge 

 the claims of the White Pine, for it is growing 

 in luxuriance on so many dry and barren places. 

 It grows fieely in gravel pits, where nothing 

 called soil remains. 



"These three Conifers make a complete list of 

 all that are desirable to be used for planting in 

 the forest soils of Massachusetts. Other varieties 

 may be good, l)ut none are better. Let these be 

 planted by the million, for twenty years will pass 

 just as quickly as though they were not planted, 

 and if planted, there will be a handsome return 

 to show for the expenditure in our advancing 

 years, when we seek some memorial of early 

 labors. 



" Growing specimens may be seen from the 

 railways and highways of the country, and the 

 success of transplanted evergreen and deciduous 

 trees, can readily be ascertained, and thereby 

 each for himself can, from the growth of the 

 past, calculate upon the growth of the future. 



" We trust that our few remarks may serve to 

 stimulate some to attempt tree planting, and we 

 hope that the planting of trees on lands adapted 

 for their growth, will pass through the land as 

 one form of a revival from the past season of 

 depression." 



Forest Seedlings. — The causes that have con- 

 tributed to the loss of evergreens directly from 



tiie forest are the lack of root lilicrs, which are 

 naturally few in many species of ('oniferoua 

 seedlings, especially ajiperlaining to those that 

 are forest grown. The.se roots are more or less 

 mutilated or left in the soil when the plants are 

 jnilled, as they usually are, instead of being dug, 

 and with more or less exposure to the sun or 

 drying winds, after being taken out of the 

 gromid, and before packing. 



These forest-grown seedlings, as slated in the 

 article referred to, require shade, and with this 

 and other necessary precautions, the loss of 

 plants is generally so great as to deter profes- 

 sional nurserymen from planting this class of 

 evergreen very largely for a series of years. 



Nursery -grown evergreens should not be 

 classed in the same category as forest-grown 

 seedlings, from the fiict that the care and culti- 

 vation given to nursery-grown seedlings, induce 

 a better root growth, and these roots are mostly 

 preserved by being dug, instead of being pulled 

 out of the ground. Hence, these nursery- 

 grown seedlings, after an exposure cf one or 

 two years to the sun, before being taken out of 

 the seed-beds, may be safely transplanted into 

 beds or nursery row« without shade. — Prairie 

 Farmer. 



The Value of Timber in the Scotch High- 

 lands. — A recent English journal says : — " An 

 illustration of the value of timber on waste 

 lands in the Highlands is afforded by a sale of 

 wood which took place on the estate of the Earl 

 of Cawdor, in Nairnshire, the other day. In 

 1820, two hills on the Cawdor property, of about 

 800 acres in extent, and of almost no agricul- 

 tural value, were planted with fir and other 

 trees, and after successive thinnings, the sale of 

 which realized large sums, the remainder of the 

 wood has just been sold off for the sum of £16,- 

 000 ($80,000). The sums realized for the wood 

 on this waste land during the fifty years is stated 

 to be equal per acre to the return for the best 

 arable land in the country." 



The Nettle Tree, Celtis austbalis, although 

 of moderate dimensions, furnishes a timber of 

 great commercial value, and the slender, flexi- 

 ble branches are in great request in many parts 

 of Europe for whip stocks. In the neighbor- 

 hood of Udine, according to the German papers, 

 large plantations are now cultivated, actually 

 tilled, and manured. The trees are planted 

 about six feet apart, the lower branches being 

 trained off, and in ten years the trunks attain a 



