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REPORT OF THE SUPERINTENDENT OF GARDENS. 208 
small fibrous roots because of their great importance to the fature growth 
of the plant. In reality these roots are of no value after they are sepa- 
rated from the soil, as they immediately decay on removal. The larger 
roots, if healthy and their outer bark uninjured, are only to be depended 
upon for the emission of an abundance of fresh and vigorous spongioles. 
‘It will be admitted that examples can bo found where the same crop 
has succeeded measurably well on the same soil for a series of years, 
but close observation and accurate comparisons will show that such in- 
stances are rarc indeed; but even these successes have not enabled us 
to remedy the failures, and it seems probable that the canses have not 
yet been fully explained. 
SOWING SEEDS AND RAISING YOUNG PLANIS OF FOREST TREES. 
Seeds should be sown as soon as practicable after they are rips. They 
will vegetate sooner if sown immediately after being gathered from the 
plant than they will at any other time. Exposure to the air hardens 
their outside coverings, which tends to prevent germination; so that the 
timé required for a seed to germinate after being sown depends greatly 
upon the amount of drying and exposure to the air to which it has been 
subjected since gathered from the plant. but it is not always practica- 
ble or convenient to sow seeds immediately after they are gathered. 
Some ripen so late in the season that they cannot be sown immediately 
on account of frost; therefore the alternative is to preserve them in the 
best manner to retain their vitality and facilitate speedy germination when 
sown. Among those which do best when sown in the fall are the seeds of 
the Peach, Cherry, Chestnut, Hazlenat, Walnut, Hickory, Oak, Horse- 
chestnut, Judas Tree, Hackberry, Yellow Locust, Osage Orange, and the 
Magnolia. These mostly form very hard shells when exposed to the air 
for a length of time, and are afterwards very slow to vegetate. If they 
have to be kept over winter for spring sowing, they should ke kept from 
the air by mixing them with dry sand, and kept in a cool, ventilated 
shed or cellar. If kept damp and warm they will either vegetate pre- 
maturely or decay. Acorns are specially liable to lose their vegetative 
power by exposure to dry air. They can be best preserved by spread- 
ing them on the surface of the ground in the open air and covering them 
with one or two inches of light soil or sand, but no water should be 
allowed to lodge around them; otherwise decay is certain. 
There are some seeds that ripen early in summer and will not keep 
well, consequently have to be sown immediately when gathered, so that 
the young plants may attain some size and strength before winter. Of 
these the Silver Maple, Elm, and Poplar may be mentioned. Silver 
Maple seed is usually ripe in May, and if then sown young plants from 
two to four feet in height will be produeed before winter. 
Small seeds, and those whieh are light and chaffy, such as seeds of the 
Alder, Birch, Sycamore, Catalpa, Paulownia, Mulberry, and Tulip Tree, 
as also some of the later-ripening winged seeds, as the Sugar Maple, 
Negundo, and the species of Ash, should be gathered when ripe, and 
spread thinly in an airy, shady situation to partially dry, then stored in 
coarse bags in a cool place until wanted for sowing in spring. Larch, 
Pine, and seeds of coniferous plants generally, should be kept in a simi- 
lar manner during winter. Seeds of the Tulip Tree should be sown very 
thickly; they are mostly very imperfect. 
To sueceed in raising healthy plants it is essentially necessary that 
the seed should be sown in deeply werked, light, loamy soil It should 
not only be deeply pulverized, but also as rich and fertile as it ean be 
