120 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



destroyed by tlic thick grass around them. On loose beach 

 sand, the pitch pine becomes a shrub, rarely rising to the dig- 

 nity of a tree. An uneven surface is preferable to extensive 

 level plains, and a soil in which there is a small admixture of 

 loam, to one composed entirely of sand. 



The pine cones or bolls of tlie growth of the current year, 

 should be gathered in autumn, before the frosts have opened the 

 burrs, and spread thinly over a floor, and exposed to the influ- 

 ence of the sun and air. In tlie course of the winter, most of 

 the burrs will open, and the seeds drop out. The wings should 

 be rubbed from the seed, and when winnowed it is in order to 

 plant. A more expeditious method is to put the bolls in pans, 

 and set tlicm in a spent oven. The gentle heat opens the 

 burrs, and the seeds drop out. 



The seed may be planted at any time, from the first of 

 December to the first of April. As a general rule, nature 

 points out the best season for sowing the seeds of plants, 

 whose habits have not changed by long cultivation. The seeds 

 of the pine begin to drop, immediately after the first frosts, 

 and very few will be found in the bolls after mid winter. As 

 the seed requires but a slight covering of earth, it should be 

 planted early, before there is much dry weather, otherwise, it 

 will not germinate. 



A quart of clean seed is sufficient, if scantily planted, for 

 four acres. Some plant by making holes with a hoe, drop the 

 seed and cover with the fingers ; and others plough furrows 

 across the land, and drop the seed at the bottom of the fur- 

 rows and cover with the hand. Both of these methods are 

 slow and expensive. A man with a horse, and a machine that 

 costs five dollars, can plant in a day, six acres, in drills six feet 

 apart. About a foot apart in the drills, is advisable. The 

 trees will not grow so thick, but allowance must be made for 

 bad seed and accidents. 



There are thousands of acres in this county, that it would 

 be a public benefit to have planted with pines; they are now 

 waste, uncultivated, and unproductive ; lands that the asses- 

 sors do not put upon their inventories ; lands that the owners 

 consider valueless for tillage or pasture ; but priceless for rail- 

 roads. 



