6o8 The Trees of Great Britain and Ireland 



Hickories though easily raised from imported nuts, require special treatment on 

 account of their long thick tap-roots, which make them so difficult to transplant ; 

 and as they grow slowly for several years and do not ripen their wood when young, 

 in most places, their ultimate success must always be to some extent a matter of 

 chance. Though they are found in America, in places where the soil is not specially 

 deep or good, they require a hotter summer than we get to enable them to ripen 

 fruit, and when a tree will not ripen seed, it can hardly be called acclimatised. 



I have made many experiments in raising them from seed, which at present 

 have not given very good results, principally, I think, because of unfavourable local 

 conditions ; but believe that if the following points, which are based on those adopted 

 in the Arnold Arboretum,* are attended to, the trouble will not be thrown away. 



The nuts must be procured from America as soon as ripe ; and if there is any 

 influence in heredity, as I believe there is, from the Northern, rather than from the 

 Southern or Western States ; but it is only fair to say that the seed which I collected 

 myself in Canada and near Boston, did not produce such strong seedlings the first 

 season as those which I procured from Philadelphia. 



The nuts should be sown at once in boxes of about 1 8 to 24 inches deep in rich 

 sandy loam, about 2 inches apart, and covered with an inch or so of light soil. The 

 boxes may be stored for the winter in a shed, and in spring brought into a frame or 

 greenhouse to induce earlier germination. They should be kept under glass until 

 all risk of spring frost has gone by, and perhaps are better kept in a frame the 

 whole summer lightly shaded, and watered when necessary. The leaves will remain 

 on throughout the autumn, when the box should be exposed to the full sun ; and as 

 soon as the shoot, which does not exceed 4 to 8 inches in height the first year, is 

 ripe, may again be put away for the winter in a dry place covered with leaves, 

 and protected from mice. 



In the following May the seedlings may either be turned out and planted in 

 a deep rich nursery bed, after cutting off the tap-root at about a foot, or if a warm 

 sheltered spot can be found in a wood, where they can be cultivated and sheltered 

 for some years, they may be planted out permanently without cutting the tap-root. 

 But as the danger from vermin and early or late frosts will continue for some years, 

 it may be better to keep them in the nursery till they are 3 to 5 feet high, provided 

 that when transplanted a deep trench is first made on one side, so as to get up the 

 whole of the root with as little injury as possible. Woods being their natural home 

 they are more likely to grow into good trees when drawn up with others than 

 when exposed in the open ; but we cannot point to an instance in Great Britain 

 where they have been so treated, though some of the best trees we know are in 

 dense shrubberies. 



As regards soil, it cannot be too deep, rich, or well drained, and a southern or 

 western aspect is to be preferred. Under such conditions they may attain 50 to 60 

 feet in height in as many years, and in some parts of England even more. A 

 certain amount of lime in the soil does not seem to be harmful. 



The hickories are not either in America or in England very long-lived trees, 



' Cf. Garden and Forest, x. Ii6 (1897). 



