1893.] ESSAYS. ]01 



inches to as many feet in length. The bark is rich in tannin, and the 

 wood makes a fine charcoal, excellent for gunpowder and fine crayons. 



Of the Pine family, nothing is so well adapted to the worn-out soils 

 of New England as Pinus Strohus^ the White Pine ; and nothing 

 will so well repay in a few years the labor required in planting and 

 care. Usually it will make a good sized tree, available for fuel or 

 box boards, in from twenty to twenty-five years. It is easily trans- 

 planted, but a little difficult to grow from seed by amateurs. There 

 are many farms in New England where there are groves of pines, and 

 where thousands of young seedlings from six inches to a foot in height 

 can be found. If a few thousands of these were collected each year 

 and planted thickly in nursery rows for one year, all that were going 

 to die would do so the first season. The following season they could 

 be transplanted in pasture or prepared ground, four or five feet apart 

 each way, after which they would require but very little care and 

 would soon repay the planter in fine groves of pines. 



After one or two years a few quarts of acorns might be dibbled in 

 amongst the pines and the resulting growth would serve as the nu- 

 cleus of a second crop, to succeed the pines. 



Pinus resinosa : Red Pine. — Also a fine tree for light lands ; of 

 rapid growth, fine as an ornamental tree, but not so valuable as the 

 White Pine for timber. 



Plnns rigida : The common Pitch Pine. — Valuable in places where 

 other trees will not grow, such as along the coast and in other ex- 

 posed situations. In such places it will act as a shelter to the better 

 trees that may be planted afterwards. It will grow readily from seed 

 sown broadcast or in hills. 



Larix Europaia : Scotch or European Larch. — An excellent tree 

 for poor lands, and can be obtained from Douglas, of Waukegan, 

 Illinois, at a few dollars per thousand. Plants two years old, trans- 

 planted, are the best for forest Culture. 



Abies Canadensis: Hemlock. — Valuable on hill-sides having an 

 eastern or northern exposure, and near water. 



Abies balsamea : Balsam Fir. — Though of rapid growth on ordi- 

 nary soils and a fine ornamental plant, it is not long-lived ; it lives 

 but from thirty to forty years, and is not much used as a timber tree. 



Pinus sylvestris : Scotch Pine. — The same may be said of this as 

 of the preceding. Although of rapid growth, twenty-five to thirty 

 years is about all it will last on our thin soils and in our dry climate, 

 though it is excellent as a nurse or shelter tree. 



