180 THE NUT CULTURIST. 



four inches, and renewed annually, or as often as neces- 

 sary to prevent the growth of grass or weeds growing 

 within three or four feet of the stem of the tree. In all 

 dry climates and soils mulching should be considered an 

 important operation, not to be omitted until the trees 

 are from six to ten years old, and it may usually be con- 

 tinued a longer time with benefit. 



Propagation. All the species of the hickory are 

 very readily grown from nuts gathered when ripe and 

 planted within a few weeks ; or they may be mixed with 

 or stratified between layers of sand and light soil and 

 buried in the open ground for the winter, and the plant- 

 ing deferred until the following spring. They are not 

 at all delicate and will withstand considerable drying 

 and neglect, and will grow, if stored in a cool cellar, 

 without being packed in either soil, sand or other mate- 

 rial. But as I have had no occasion to determine how 

 much neglect these nuts will withstand, nor to what 

 extremes of adverse conditions it is safe to subject them, 

 I shall leave investigation in this direction to others, 

 because in general practice no valuable seed or plant 

 grows any too readily and freely to satisfy the cultivator, 

 and for this reason I recommend either planting hickory 

 nuts in the fall, or burying them between layers of light 

 soil or sand, sifting out and planting early the fol- 

 lowing spring. If any considerable quantity is to be 

 planted they should be dropped three or four inches 

 apart in shallow trenches and covered about two inches 

 deep. The distance between the rows may be from two 

 to three feet, depending upon the implements to be used 

 in their cultivation. 



The soil for a seedbed should, of course, be made 

 rich and deep, or the same as recommended for chest- 

 nuts, and all the means usually employed to assist the 

 growth of cultivated plants are applicable to nut trees. 

 1 may also add that cutworms, white grubs and other 



