Apparent Spontaneity of White Birch. 101 



it is not latitude either, in so great a measure as we might at 

 first sight suppose. Were latitude, in its parallels of tempera- 

 ture, the principal cause of the difference of such kinds of 

 forests as we see, as we proceed northward, or even to a cer- 

 tain extent as we proceed southward, it would be quite im- 

 possible, or at least far more difficult than we find to be the 

 case, to cultivate trees on soils not indigenous to them, or to 

 overcome this inadequacy by a gradual acclimation. We do 

 not expect to see such trees as are cultivated on unnatural 

 soils, in all the vigor and habit of their natural condition. 

 Yet they grow, and, to a certain extent, thrive and endure to 

 many years, to reward^the industry or the taste that, trans- 

 planting them from their homes, induces them to find a new 

 habitat elsewhere. It were far better, then, to consult the 

 capabilities of soils, in order to secure such growth as is 

 most congenial to them. 



It is to be hoped that the subject of arboriculture will ere 

 long receive that attention, which its importance demands. 

 As agriculture is becoming less and less profitable in the- 

 vicinity of all our great cities and considerable towns, and as 

 much of the sterile soils of old cultivation are almost thrown 

 up as useless, a little attention to the introduction of forests, 

 might, I should think, be advantageously recommended by 

 our societies, that charge themselves with the interests of 

 the farming community. If premiums on a liberal scale were 

 offered for the reclaiming of worn-out pastures, of depauper- 

 ated rye fields and the like, by the cultivation of such kinds 

 of trees as will be found to grow, it would not be too much 

 to anticipate a favorable change in the features of our lands. 

 The remarkable success which has uniformly attended any 

 experiments in this species of agricultural labor, gives promise 

 of what could be anticipated, when employed on the widest 

 scale. This latter remark leads us, however, to the brief 

 consideration of the second fact, which I also would have 

 noticed, as stated before. 



A soil which becomes covered with any kind of vegeta- 

 tion, seems to be preoccupied by that vegetation, to the ex- 

 clusion of any other. We see this in larger and in minor 



