EAISING TREES FROM SEED. 27 



itudes and climates, all kinds of seed may be sown so 

 soon as ripe. But when taken from one locality or 

 country to another, yariations in the time of sowing 

 should be made to correspond with the change of climate. 

 Although the proper, or natural time for planting seeds 

 would seem to be immediately after their ripening, it is 

 frequently impracticable to plant at such times, and is 

 seldom done by those who make raising trees a specialty, 

 for if placed in the soil in autumn, mice, moles, and 

 other animals are very likely to attack and make sad havoc 

 with them before the growing season returns, and in 

 hard tenacious soils the earth will often become so firmly 

 pa*cked over the seed during the winter, that the young 

 sprouts frequently fail to braak through in the spring. 

 In light friable soils, and where there are no vermin to 

 destroy them (which is rarely the case), most kinds of 

 tree seeds may be sown in the fall. 



Thei'c are, however, two species of our native maples, 

 Scarlet and Silver-leaved, and also the different species of 

 elms, the seeds of which mature in the spring or early 

 part of the summer, and as they usually germinate soon 

 after falling (at least those of the maples do), they 

 should be sown as soon as ripe. But these are exceptions 

 to the general rule. 



The seeds of a large proportion of deciduous trees 

 may be preserved over winter by mixing them with clean, 

 sharp, moist sand, and burying in the ground, covering 

 only just enough to protect them from vermin and the 

 changes of weather. A dry knoll or other well drained 

 situation should be selected. Acorns, chestnuts, and 

 and hickory nuts and seeds of the later ripening maples, 

 locusts, three-thorned acacia, yellow wood, and hundreds 

 of other similar kinds will keep perfectly in this way, 

 and be found in excellent condition in spring, when they 

 may be sown with, or without the sand in which they 

 have been stored. 



