200. BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. TJan. 



the approach of cold weather they may be covered with meadow 

 hay or leaves. This does not keep the boxes from freezing, but, 

 wheu once frozen, it keeps them so until spring. If no pit is 

 available, the boxes can be piled six or seven deep in a well- 

 sheltered spot, covering the upper boxes with a few boards, the 

 whole to be covered with leaves or other litter. In the case of 

 all the seeds I have mentioned as taking one or more years to 

 germinate, it is unnecessary to cover the boxes with litter ; but it 

 is well to cover with boards, so that mice or squirrels may not 

 get at the seed ; and in many cases seed that has been so frozen 

 will often come up the first season, which otherwise would not 

 have come until the second. 



As soon as the weather is settled, which is usually about the 

 middle of April, choose a well-sheltered spot, level, aud handy to 

 water. If the aspect can be an eastern or south-eastern one, I 

 like it better, as they get the early morning sun, but not the scorch- 

 ing sun at noonday. Place all the boxes containing the nuts, 

 acorns and other large seeds together, in beds of three boxes wide. 

 This will make it very compact, and much easier to care for them 

 than if the boxes containing seeds of the sa,me class are scattered 

 about. The only attention these will require is to keep them well 

 watered and free from weeds; but for such seeds as maple, ash, 

 elm and others of like nature, it would be well to cover the boxes 

 with lath screens until they have made the second or third rough 

 leaf, when they might be gradually hardened off, and finally exposed 

 fully to air and light. If a few sashes could be spread to protect 

 all delicate growing seeds, it would be of great advantage, and as 

 soon as well up they could be treated the same as the others. 



The use of lath screens on seed beds saves a great amount of 

 labor in watering, and, if the plants are neglected for an hour or 

 so, the results are not so disastrous as when the young seedlings 

 are fully exposed to the sun. Any boxes of seeds that do not 

 come up before the last of June will hardly appear that year, but 

 will require to be kept moist, the same as the growing plants. I 

 usually place all such boxes together in a shady spot, and cover 

 them to the depth of an inch or more with sphagnum (a kind of 

 moss), and, by giving them a good watering once or twice a week, 

 they are carried safely through the summer. At the approach of 

 cold weather they are gathered together, piled five or six deep, as 

 before, and covered for the winter. When spring comes on they 

 will need to be treated as seed that has just been sown. For the 

 finer seeds, such as azalea, rhododendron, kalmia and others, a 

 special treatment is required, which I will speak of later. 



In the fall of the first year the boxes of young trees may be 



