524 THE AMERICAN FARMER. 



58,000; of the hemlock, 100,000; of the European larch, 60,000 to 75,000, and of the Amer 

 ican arbor vitae, 320,000. It will usually be much cheaper to buy evergreen seeds than to 

 collect them, but the latter mode will be sure to secure them fresh. Many other seeds of 

 trees may be gathered advantageously by those who desire to make plantations, and in this 

 way fine collections of young trees are obtained at small expenditure.&quot; 



For maple, birch, and seeds of a similar kind, it will be well to delay planting until 

 spring, in very cold latitudes. The soil should not be too retentive of moisture, for any 

 variety. The planting should not be done in wet weather on naturally wet soils, as the seed 

 would be liable to rot before germinating. 



All trees require considerable shade in the early stages of growth. The natural protec 

 tion of the mother tree and the forest are best suited to their growth. A hot sun will often 

 kill many young trees, especially the evergreen species, while all varieties require more or 

 less protection by shade when young. When planting in a nursery, a high hedge of thick 

 growth, or a high, tight board-fence will be necessary, if no other shade is afforded for their 

 protection. 



Several years since, a gentleman in Massachusetts experimented in tree-planting, select 

 ing for his location a very high hill containing, in all, about twenty-five acres. This section 

 was bare, without a single tree. At the top where it was bleak and cold, and the soil 

 extremely poor, he planted as elsewhere, at first, trees of many kinds, but they did not thrive. 

 He then obtained, at considerable expense and trouble, some of the hardiest varieties of the 

 pine, spruce, and hemlock, from a more northerly latitude, and from abroad, and planted 

 these. Being varieties that would thrive almost anywhere, they grew and flourished. When 

 they had made a good growth, he planted close by the side of each, that shelter might be 

 thus afforded, some other variety such as the oak, maple, or hickory, that had previously 

 failed to grow there. This experiment proved a perfect success, and to-day, owing to the 

 efforts of this man, that whole hill is covered from summit to base with a fine growth of a 

 variety of forest trees. Many forests have been grown in this manner, and it would be well 

 if more would follow examples of this kind. 



Hon. Geo. B. Emerson, previously referred to, expresses as his opinion, that every one 

 of our native trees may be propagated by seed. He says: &quot; I have tried so many of them 

 that I have no hesitation in saying that every one of our native trees may be propagated with 

 perfect certainty, if you only know how to take care of them. A tree speaks for itself, 

 generally, as to the time the seed should be planted. When a seed falls to the ground, it 

 falls to produce another tree. When, therefore, the seeds are ripe and fall to the ground, 

 that is the time to sow them. As to the mode of sowing them, you can sow them in the 

 field, just as you do a crop of corn, taking care not to cover them too deep, and taking care 

 to have them protected. I have heard of a man (and I was very sorry not to go and see 

 him) who had sown a quantity of seeds in a field of rye, and the rye protected those little 

 trees that sprang up perfectly, and the owner let the rye stay till the next spring, to protect 

 them. Here is a hint that the trees give us of how they ought to be planted. The oak tree 

 lets its acorns fall on the ground, and there they take root. The same thing is true of almost 

 all our trees; not all; they grow best under their mother s care, under her protection. In 

 Germany I went to a great forest school, thirty miles from Berlin, and the superintendent 

 escorted me about and showed me how they planted their oaks. I found a magnificent for 

 est of several hundred acres that has been given up to this forest school, that the young men 

 may have an opportunity to study the tree in every position and in every condition. I found 

 the place that he had selected to plant oaks was a little opening among oak trees, a noble 

 forest, with high trees on every side. The seed is planted in this spot, where the trees pro 

 tect them from the sun, except for half an hour or an hour in the hottest part of the day; 

 they are partially protected almost the whole time. That is a matter of very great import- 



