i6o 



TJie Canadian Horticnltnrist. 



will render it practicable, as so many 

 desire to plant the nuts just where 

 the tree is to stand, even over a large 

 plantation. Mr. Thomas Meehan, 

 the well-known seed dealer and 

 nurseryman at Philadelphia, in his 

 price list says his method is to plant 

 his seed very early in the moist earth, 

 even while partly frozen, and trust 

 to shading and natural dampness of 

 the soil to sprout the seed, and he 

 and many others say they never knew 

 any good arise from soaking the seed. 

 But by keeping the seed under treat- 

 ment till the last one has shown 

 sign of germination, and where we 

 can see just what we are doing with 

 them, and at the same time fully 

 work the soil and keep down the 

 weeds and by putting the seed in the 

 clean soil just when ready to open its 

 seed leaves, we would save great 

 trouble and disappointment. The 

 seed of white ash has a tough coat, 

 and unless in very moist ground I 

 find it very apt to lie two years, and 

 a great many seeds are lost entirely. I 

 find it useless to plant it in the Fall, 

 as even if a few come all right, there 

 is a great loss, and invariably some 

 of the seeds, however planted, do 

 not germinate till the second year. 

 The weeds always start too soon for 

 ash as well as maple seed, and if 

 there is no other objection to Mr. 

 Hulee's practice of soaking, I see so 

 many advantages that I will try it in 

 future. 



THREE FAST GROWING TREES. 



Ash, Locust, Catalpa. 



The best growth I have yet seen 

 in this climate is in the case of the 

 Catalpa speciosa, and I regret that 

 it is not quite hardy enough to be 



desirable here, as it is at the same 

 time such a handsome and useful 

 tree ; it ought to be a favorite in the 

 warmer parts of Ontario. One Am- 

 erican paper counts it as a great 

 advantage that its leaf is rather late 

 in appearing in the spring — hardly 

 in its favor, in my opinion. I do not 

 care to see the bare limbs so long 

 after other trees are fully out, and a 

 good many of my neighbors who 

 have a few trees have thrown them 

 out, thinking they were dead, when, 

 if they waited till June they would 

 have found plenty of showy foliage. 

 It is so easily transplanted, as well 

 as raised from seed, if planted after 

 the soil is warm, and its cultivation 

 offers no difficulty to its general dis- 

 tribution. Frequently it will grow 

 eight or nine feet, and I have doubt 

 that, as is claimed for it in Ohio, it 

 will produce a railway tie in ten 

 years. 



The yellow locust, very common 

 and just as easily raised from seed, 

 is nearly as rapid in upright growth, 

 increasing in diameter a little more 

 slowly. It offers no trouble in the 

 nurser}' except that it is not quite 

 hardy the first year, and is a most 

 useful timber tree both for fuel and 

 for manufacturing. It will grow 

 from the seed to be three, five or 

 eight feet high the first year, and 

 transplants readil}'. It also is very 

 late showing a leaf, and loses all its 

 foliage very early in the autumn, and 

 like the Catalpa, I do not admire it 

 for an ornamental tree. Farmers do 

 not like it from its liability to spread 

 by sprouting from the root if wound- 

 ed, as well as from its seed, the light 

 legume being carried by the wind 

 too easily. In foliage and limb it is 



