72 YALE AGRICULTURAL LECTURES- 



of the same character as that where the tree shall stand. 

 Trees for an artificial forest should grow close together, 

 and single ones apart from each other. The oak, which has 

 been allowed to expand, is one of the most magnificent things 

 on the face of the earth. It is a singular fact, that some of our 

 finest trees are not to be seen growing in our own forests in 

 their native perfection. To see our scarlet oak in beauty, we 

 must see it on an English lawn. The nurseries should be kept 

 free of weeds by the hoe or rake. No small part of the suc 

 cess with trees depends upon the care with which they are 

 taken up, and also upon the shortness of time they are out of 

 the ground. The rootlets are killed often, if dried by the sun 

 or wind, and the tree has to throw them out anew. They may 

 be planted on the lawn in rows, singly, or in groups. The 

 land should be trenched, and supplied often with bones and 

 ashes, the trees needing both phosphoric acid and potash. A 

 singular fact made known by the united researches of chemis 

 try and microscopy is, that only in a liquid containing sugar, 

 dextrine, and protein, can cells be formed. Only where car 

 bon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, and often sulphur and phos 

 phorus exist, can the first act of plant life begin. Plants gene 

 rally contain three per cent, of nitrogen. This must be added 

 if the soil does not contain it. Mulching with leaves, sedge, 

 grass, or rotten wood, is advantageous. Is it asked, What 

 trees are best for the lawn, or near a dwelling-house, for the 

 pasture, the public square, or the road-side? Every tree is 

 more or less beautiful. Every tree is a picture, varying in 

 color, shape, and all the accidents of vegetable life, in all the 

 hours from the beginning to the end of the year. It may be 

 come an heir-loom, and ever fresh with the memory of parents 

 and grand-parents gone before. Each tree has its birds, and 

 insects, its epiphytes, parasites, and lichens. The grandest tree 

 in our climate is the oak, and the longest lived. In the forests 

 of Massachusetts there are twelve species. The white oak, for 

 the forest and lawn, is susceptible of magnificent development. 



