1880. 



AND HORTICULTURIST. 



53 



which, to his certain knowledge, had been lying I of each of the stakes B F and C E, and find the 

 for twelve years partly covered with earth in an | difference in their lengths or heights. Then pro- 

 old meadow. The heart wood is in perfect pre- ceed as follows: Divide the distance from the 

 servation. This timber, he says, is arapidgrower, trunk of the tree to the stake C E, say 100 feet, 

 and seems to be nearly imperishable in the by the distance between the two stakes B F and 

 ground; and he suggests that it would pay rail- C E, say 10 feet; then, supposing the difference, 

 road companies to cultivate it for ties. Osage in the length of the two stakes is 2 feet, multi- 

 timber large enough for narrow gauge roads ply the product or dividend obtained as above by 

 would grow, he thinks,in from twelve. to fifteen this difference, which will give 20 feet, and then 

 years from planting. Whether it would hold supposing the height of the stake C E is Z feet, 

 spikes well does not appear." add this to the 20 feet, which will make the height 



[But this does not tell us how long the same of the tree 23 feet. 



timber would last as railroad ties. It makes a 



great difference whether a piece of wood is whol- 



Iv or partially covered. Cedar is dug up in New 



Jersey, and has been dug up in Illinois, that has of our own, of a very simple problem m tngo 



been buried before the historic period, and found nometry, to the purpose. 



In case the ground is not level, the spirit-level 

 will assist j^ou. 

 This mode of measuring trees is an adaptation 



to be just as sound as if but recently living. So, 

 near London, recently, oak logs have been dug 

 up that were used for corduroy roads by the Ro- 

 mans near two thousand years ago, perfectly 

 sound. It is the heat of Summer and the subse- 

 quent moist period that worries the ties, and we 

 want to know how they will act under these 

 circumstances. — Ed. G. M.l 



Rapid Growth of the Osage Orange.— 

 Prof. Sargent informs us that the Osage Orange 

 planted by Dr. Darlington , near his home in "West 

 Chester, has lately been cut down. The trunk 

 which shows but 47 annual rings, girts 



At 1 foot from the ground, . . 10 feet 3 inches. 

 " 3 feet " " : . 8 '^ 8 " 



" 5 " " " . . 8 " 5 " 



A section of the trunk has been presented to 

 the Museum of the Harvard Arboretum. 



Ericine. — This new coloring matter is so 



Measuring the Height of Trees. — Just 

 now much space is given to this subject by our 

 contemporaries, — and it may serve a useful pur- 

 pose to give here a plan which was published by 

 the writer of this many years ago. It is one of called because it is made from the wood of the 

 those cases where old things are as good as new, Erica or European Heath. It is also now made 

 —for geometrical rules are good for all times. f^om Poplar wood. It dyes a beautiful yellow. 



A very easy, simple and correct mode of meas- 

 uring the height of trees is as follows: The Difference in the Catalpas.— The 



Western Rural tells a corresponaent that the 

 "tender" Catalpa is " tender in the west above 

 forty degress,"— and that the " hardy" Catalpa 

 is "hardy up to forty degrees." 



"*^. Tree Planting in Nebraska.- The Union 



Pacific Railroad has made extensive plantations 

 of forests along its line in Nebraska. These un- 

 der the superintendence of Mr. J. T. Allan, 

 i have been generally successful. The trees are 

 Mea.sure any distance from the tree you choose, chiefly kinds native to the Rocky Mountains, 

 say 90 feet, and plant a perpendicular stake B F \ though Larch, Scotch Pine, and some fruit trees 

 in the ground, of any height, say 5 feet; then at have also been experimented with. The regu- 

 any distance, say 10 feet, from this stake, and lar hands of the road planted the trees under 

 on the opposite side of it from the tree, plant Mr. Allan's superintendence. The plan was to 

 another perpendicular stake C E, which must be plow up tracts of from two to five hundred acres, 

 driven into the ground until the points E F G '^sow with grass and clover, and set out the trees 

 are brought into a range. Measure the heights at the same time. 



< 



