96 ESSAY ON FOREST TREES. 



vigorous growth, and other particulars connected with the subject 

 generally. 



I have concluded to present these statements in one body, think- 

 ing upon the whole that the end for which they are produced, would 

 be most fully answered, and that any reference which it was wished 

 to make to them, would be more easily effected. 



EXTRACTS, 



What is the best time to sow acorns ? and how may they be best preserved till 

 sown? are questions which admit perhaps of considerable difference of opinion. No 

 doubt, nature seems to dictate that the acorns should be committed to the ground as 

 soon ns they are perfectly ripe; for they will ofien begin to sprout even before they 

 fall trom the tree. But then, if sown immediately in autumn, they run great risk of 

 being devoured by birds, mice, and other vermin; wliile on the other hand, if kept 

 till towards spring, and in too dry a state, many will perish : and, again, if in a moist 

 one many more will sprout out to a considerable length and thus (as it is supposed) 

 exhaust their strength by premature vegetation. From an experiment made this year 

 quite accidentally, it would seem that neither the late sowing nor the sprouting of the 

 acorns is at all prejudicial to the future growth of the young plants. — Gardener's 

 Magazine. 



Evelyn says, thitsowing acorns, &c., in iho autumn, appears to be the most natu- 

 ral method; but the destruction made by the field mouse, both at the time of sowing 

 and during the winter, has induced many genilemen to prefer the spring sowing to the 

 autumnal one. — JV. E. Farmer. 



Oak coppices are made in France by sowing the acorns in the fall of the year along 

 with wheat or rye, or some other winter crop. The acorns are sowed broadcast, as 

 the grain that is sowed along with them. By the time that the grain comes off the 

 ground, the oaks get to be '.wo or three inches high, and are then allowed to grow 

 into a coppice. — N. E. Farmer. 



I wish that all gentlemen thought on the coming scarcity of oak timber as I do, 

 they would not walk through their farms, withoui a pocket full of acorns to drop in 

 the hedge-side, and then let them take their chance. — Lord ColUngiuood. 



South, a practical planter says, that any oak in a good soil and situation, will in 

 seventy-five years, from the acorn, contain a ton of timber, or a load and a half o f 

 square timber. The same oak at 150 years of age, will contain about eight tons of 

 timber, or twelve loads of square timber. — N. E. Farmer. 



The author of the Agricultural Report of Scotland says : "Trees may be raised by 

 sowing seed on the spot where they are to grow." Mr. Miller says : 'Oaks are bes 

 produced from the acorns in the places where the trees are to remain, because those 

 which are transplanted will not grow to so large a size nor remain so long sound. In 

 removing any tree, some injury must be done to the fibrous roots, and especially to the 

 tap root, and the oflener the tree is removed the greater will be the injury. 



In this respect, a tree which is permitted to grow in its original site, has an advan- 

 fgo over thi) transplanted tree. Some writers, however, maintain that two or three 

 times transplanting a tree is necessary to give it a fair start. Every root and fibre, they 

 say, which is cut oflT in order to transplant a treg is succeeded by several root? and 

 fibres, the number of vegetable mouths by which the plant procures food from the soil: 



