14 PLANTING, 



3rd. Leguminous, or bean seeds. These, as regards forest-trees are 

 confined to the common acacia, or locust-tree (Eobinia Pseud- Acacia), 

 the glutinous Rohinia (Kobinia viscosa), and the laburnum. These seeds 



late freely when sown from the tree, but it is the general practice 

 to preserve them until spring in a dry, cool place. When sown, they 

 require to be covered with about three-fourths of an inch of mould. If 

 sown too thickly, that is, less than one inch seed from seed, the plants 

 soon injure one another and become diseased. 



4th. Light mrds. Under this head we enumerate smooth elm, and 

 mountain elm, the poplar, and the tree willows. These seeds being light, 

 and separating freely from the tree when ripe, require care in collecting, as 

 otherwise they are. liable to be dispersed and carried away by the wind. 

 They vegetate quickly and may be sown so soon as they are ripe. Spring 

 however is preferred, as tender seedling plants are subject to injury from 

 severe weather in winter. They should be covered to the depth of one 

 fourth of an inch of fine sifted mould. 



5th. Resinous seeds are those of coniferous or fir-trees. Their vegeta- 

 tive power when cleaned or separated from the cones, is not to be pre- 

 served if they are kept out of the ground for any considerable length of 

 time, and they require particular care in sowing. The soil of the beds 

 ought to be of a light sandy nature, enriched with the vegetable mould of 

 decayed tree leaves, or well decomposed dung. If a proper quantity of 

 the former manure be added, and well incorporated with the sandy loam 

 above described, it will bring that soil to a suitable texture. The seeds 

 are borne in cones furnished with scales of a hard woody consistence. The 

 cones of the larch with much difficulty part from the seeds, and various 

 means have been adopted to effect that object. The best is that of first 

 opening the cone, or dividing it lengthways into two or four parts, then 

 placing them on a kiln and drying by a very gentle heat until the valves 

 in to open, when they should be taken to a proper floor and threshed : 

 the seeds may then be separated by a sieve. The cones of the Scotch fir 

 and the spruce require also the aid of the kiln ; but the seeds part from 

 the cones easily, and the splitting of the cones is superfluous. The spring* is 

 the best season for sowing these seeds. The soil of the seedling beds 

 should be in as finely a pulverised state as possible for their reception. 



The seed of tin; stone pine requires to be covered with one and a quarter 

 inches of soil, the silver fir and pinaster with one inch, the We\ month pine 

 with three-fourths of an inch; the Scotch fir, Norway spruce, balm of 

 (iilead, and cedar of Lebanon with half an inch of soil. The cedar of 



anon is best sown in boxes placed in a warm or sheltered situation. 

 The larch should not be sown so deep; a covering of a quarter of an inch of 

 Miil sndices. The white, red, and American spruce lirs, having smaller 

 seeds, require a slighter covering of a fifth of an inch deep, and the tex- 

 ture of the soil should be even lighter, which can be easily effected by 

 adding sand or a larger proportion of the mould of decayed tree leaves. 



'h soil, or bog soil, containing a good proportion of fine siliceous sand, 



been found very congenial to the vegetation of these seeds. t Shading 



* If the winter happened to be favourable, and the depredations of vermin were com- 

 !. the balance would be in favour of sowing the seeds of thu fir and pine 

 in autumn, and which would he the case also with every description of forest-tree seeds, 

 the I. h probably ewptfd. 



f This description of soil has been erronnm,! . lo be injurious to transplanted 



Rod implements are used to remove the heath soil from the intended sites of the plants, 

 in order that the roots maybe inserted in the subsoil of gravel or sand, of which the sub- 

 toil almost alwa\ , consists. The roots of the lieath vhilc alive are the cause of injury, 

 not the nature of the soil. 



