128 



richly pulverized earth, and a layer of chestnuts, then another layer 

 of earth and another layer of chestnuts, and so on until the basket is 

 full. Bury the basket, or baskets, in the earth, like one would pota- 

 toes, but don't cover too deep. In the early spring, about April 1, 

 take the basket out, turn out the earth and you will likely find that 

 the chestnuts have sprouted. Plant them carefully, cover them an 

 inch deep, and you will probably have no trouble. 



Now as for walnuts. Get your walnuts in the fall, bruise the outer 

 green husk, so that it is broken, but without injuring the inner shell. 

 Plant them at once in a shallow furrow under an inch and one-half 

 of fine soil. When they are one year old dig them up carefully, injur- 

 ing the-roots as little as possible, but cut the tap root back until it is 

 about six inches long. Transplant immediately. Most of them will 

 grow, and can be transplanted the second time, when they are two 

 years old, where you want them to remain. 



Shellbarks are uncertain, possibly because many of the nuts fail of 

 fertilization in the flower, and therefore can not start a young plant. 

 The best plan, however, in my judgment, is to keep them moist in a 

 cool, damp place, in sand, until late in the fall, then plant them as you 

 did the chestnuts. Their growth will be slow and unsatisfactory, 

 probably. But when they are a foot high, which will be in two or 

 three years, lift them carefully, cut back the tap root, and plant them 

 as directed for the walnuts. When they are two or three feet high the 

 young shellbarks can be planted where they are to remain. There 

 will be great uncertainty about inducing young shellbarks of this size 

 to grow when transplanted unless their tap root has been cut back 

 when a year or two old. 



Beech nuts, or beech trees, have never yet come in this country to be 

 considered a crop. The beech nut requires about the same care and 

 the same method of treatment that have been advised for the chestnut. 



There is another class of trees, concerning which inquiries are fre- 

 quently made as to methods of planting; such, for example, as the 

 wild black cherry. It is commonly stated that the fruit of this tree, 

 planted in the autumn, will not grow. There is a misapprehension 

 about this, as the young trees may be readily producedjrom the wild 

 cherry, provided we follow the intimation that nature has given us. 



Fruits of this character having a soft pulp are usually bright colored 

 and widely diffused over the region in which they will grow. The 

 bright colored covering is an attraction to the birds. This is well 

 known in the case of the gum tree, the wild cherry and even the poke- 

 berry. If these fruits are allowed to dry, with the pulp on them, the 

 hardened exterior seems to prevent, in some way or other, the growth 

 of the young plant within. Evidently nature intends that these fruits 

 shall be eaten by the birds, the pulp digested off and the seeds, them- 

 selves, passing unharmed through the alimentary canal, be scattered 



