72 TREE-PLANTING. 



the year, a longer summer than we get in Britain 

 is required for the most favourable conditions of its 

 growth. 



No tree perhaps has been so much praised by 

 certain authors, Cobbett especially, and as they grow 

 very rapidly during their infancy, they have frequently 

 raised the belief that they would outstrip every other 

 timber tree, but this early promise is not kept up, two- 

 year old plants being often from five to six feet in 

 height. 



The tree can be raised from cuttings of the roots, 

 but it is usually produced from seeds, which get ripe 

 about the end of October. It is generally customary 

 to steep the seeds in water, and sow them in early 

 spring. A light, pliable, well-drained soil is necessary, 

 in an open situation where plenty of sunshine is to be 

 obtained, and the seeds sown about two inches apart. 

 The best seeds are procured from America. They 

 should be covered with about half an inch of soil, 

 when the plants will make their appearance early 

 in the summer, and growing quickly, will attain a 

 height of one and a half to two feet during the first 

 season. If they exceed this rate of growth they 

 seldom ripen their tops sufficiently. The soil should 

 be well drained, and only when the climate is of the 

 best and most suitable description should it be made 

 rich for seedling plants, which grow very rapidly 

 without being stimulated, and they should be trans- 

 planted when one year old, into nursery lines two feet 

 apart, the plants standing about a foot asunder in the 

 rows. Sometimes in one year after this, and some- 

 times in two years, according to soil and situation, 

 the plants will commonly attain a height of from five 



