ESSEX SOCIETY. 65 



shall reap the field which we sow, may wish to devote the prod- 

 uce, I am inclined to believe that good economy and good 

 taste unite in recommending, that the chief attention should be 

 confined to the cultivation of the white, gray, yellow and black 

 species. These have each their peculiar properties, fitting them 

 for special uses, and each one for a service which the others 

 will not so well answer — while together they meet most of the 

 necessities which the other kinds, growing freely in this climate, 

 would be able to supply. Other kinds may be raised as matters 

 of taste ; a pleasing variety would thus be given to our scenery ; 

 and it is believed, in doing this, profit and pleasure would be 

 found to result from the same enterprise. 



Two important questions present themselves here, on the 

 right answer to which, depends in no small degree the success 

 of this enterprise. 



The first is, Ought the acorns to be planted in the nursery, or 

 in open ground? — in the fall, or in the spring? 



The second : How shall the young trees be cultivated and 

 trained ? 



In respect to the inquiry whether the acorns should be planted 

 in the open ground or in the nursery, there exists a difference of 

 opinion among those who have enjoyed the best means of in- 

 formation, whether we consider the extent of their inquiries, or 

 the results of their own experiments. The same is true in rela- 

 tion to fall and spring planting. The inference which ought to 

 be drawn from them, may be a question of some doubt. It 

 certainly is likely to be of some perplexity to those who are 

 about for the first time to engage in tree cultivation, and may 

 well raise some doubts in the minds of those who have enter- 

 tained confidence that they had certainly found out the best 

 way. It will not be my purpose at this time to go into a com- 

 parison of the actual superiority of one or the other of them, 

 though I am willing to state it as my opinion, that in a large 

 portion of cases in this county where it is proposed to cultivate 

 any number of what is rightly called the king of the woods, 

 it will be effected with a less expense of labor, and in a 

 shorter space of time, by cultivating the trees in nurseries, and 

 keeping them there till they are six or more years old, before 



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