Transplantation of Coniferous Forest Trees. 351 



with the exception of some of them being heated and spoiled 

 by remaining too long under the hatches, and wonld have 

 been liberally purchased, had there not been a popular clam- 

 our against them, that they would not live ; yet I suggested 

 the propriety on the plan proposed of a gradual acchmation, 

 by not placing them at first in too exposed situations. I, how- 

 ever, succeeded in distributing them for a small remuneration ; 

 and, as a lone solitaire of the Balsam-fir was said to exist in 

 the precincts of the city, I busied myself in hunting it up. 

 On finding the tree alluded to, it proved to be a species of the 

 white pine, (Pinus *S'tr6bus), growing in the garden at the 

 neck, belonging to the Hon. Joel R. Poinsett, a gentleman well 

 known in the science of Horticulture, as well as his able com- 

 peer, the Hon. Thomas Bennett. Some weeks elapsed, and 

 I made an excursion into the country, and, when visiting a 

 plantation belonging to Mrs. Lynah, 1 accidentally discov- 

 ered a tree of the Balsam-fir growing in this lady's garden on 

 the banks of Stone River. This tree was thriving luxuriantly 

 in the most exposed situation, under the direct rays of the 

 sun, on an elevated sandy ridge ; this native of my hills had 

 undergone, by acclimation, a remarkable change, its acerose 

 leaves nearly twice as large, presenting a brilliantly varnished 

 appearance, with its foliage of a rich deep-green, and a healthy 

 structure throughout. The lady informed me that a gentle- 

 man from Massachusetts presented this tree to her some time 

 in the fall — six years previous. This encouraged me as to 

 the future success of those I had transplanted; and I had the 

 satisfaction of seeing many of them without much care pass 

 through the first and second summer in a thriving condition, 

 as, out of the city in some places, five out of seven succeeded ; 

 since that, 1 can give no farther information concerning them, 

 but have not the least doubt that success would have been 

 certain had the trees been younger, or seeds had been obtained 

 from trees growing in exposed situations in soils similar to 

 those of the south. 



The surest way for the collection and arranging of facts, in 

 the acclimation of plants, is to devote our attention to Botan- 

 ical Geography. Thus, plants or trees of the same family do 

 not thrive nor succeed so well when transplanted from elevat- 

 ed and mountainous regions to the plain, however contiguous 



