a \ 
408 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
five rods in width and of given variety. Plant from 400 to 600 trees 
to the acre of valuable kinds for timber, and fill in with nturse 
trees, making in all about 2,722 to the acre, or four feet apart each 
Way. : 
Trees planted in this way and kept well cultivated will shade the 
entire ground the third year, after which no more cultivation is 
necessary. 
As soon as the nurse trees are large enough for good sized stakes, 
thinning out should commence. Show no mercy,but cut or grub out 
all trees that are encroaching too closely on those that are eventually 
going to occupy the whole ground as a permanent forest. This thin- 
ing must be done gradually, from year to year, taking care not to cut 
out too much in any one place, the object to be attained being to so 
thin them out as to always keep the ground shaded, thus prevent- 
ing the growth of grass and weeds, that would otherwise spring up 
but are never found in an ideal grove. 
Make it a rule never to cut atree unlessit will be a benefit to your 
grove. Never neglect cutting out those which should be removed: 
This work is best done from late fall to early spring. 
Many failures have resulted in the planting of such nuts as oak 
chestnut, walnut, hickory, etc., caused by the planter reading in 
books that should be standard authority that such nuts will not 
grow readily or at all if allowed to become thoroughly dried or 
cured. This conveys to the mind of the ordinary reader that the 
nuts may be partially dried or cured without injury to the germin- 
ating power. This is a fatal mistake. The meats of such nuts must 
not be dried atall orallowed to shrink, and only the surplus moist- 
ure in the outer covering or on the outer covering is to be removed 
by a few minutes exposure to the sun or dryair. The very best way 
is to prepare your ground and plant your nuts as soon as you get 
them. Mulch the ground over as soon as planted to prevent their 
being heaved out by the frost. Always plant twice as many seeds 
as you want to grow and when they are one year old transplan 
your surplus stock or destroy it with the grub hoe. This is very 
important and should never be neglected. 
Remember that the seed of the red, or slippery, elm (Ulmus fulva) 
will not, like the other elms and soft maple, germinate the same 
season they are picked, but must be stratified as soon as gathered 
and may be planted that fall or the following spring. 
Also remember that black ash (Fraxinus sambucifolia) will not 
germinate like the seeds of other ash trees the next spring after 
picking. They must be picked, stratified and lay over one year be- 
fore they will germinate. 
It is a well known fact that all seeds of conifers and such seeds as 
those of the white birch must be started in shaded seed beds. Time 
will not permit me to go into this branch of the subject. 
The northern red cedar is a desirable conifer for this latitude. It 
makes an impenetrable windbreak and when properly taken care of 
grows quite rapidly and is a very valuable tree when it arrives at 
maturity. They should be planted by the million. 
Whether it is more profitable to plant trees for the sake of their 
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