ESSAY ON FOREST TREES. 101 



their age, from information by the gentleman on whose property they 

 stood. In this instance there are four yellow oak trees standing 

 nearly in a row. The two outside ones being about twenty feet 

 apart. They stand on the side of a hill, sella san'Sy loam, — are 

 forty years old. The largest is estimated to contain two feet or more 

 of wood, the other not so much. 



I have as proposed, collected and brought together these state- 

 ments, they are all of them from sources which entitle them to the 

 respectful consideration of all who wish for information on the sub- 

 ject concerning which they speak. The inference which ought to 

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

 tainly 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 entertained confidence that 

 they had certainly found out the best way. It will not be my pur- 

 pose at this time, to go into a compaiuson 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 are rightly called the king 

 of the woods, that it will be effected with a less expense of labor, and 

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

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

 are transferred to an open lot. I think it not unlikely, that in many 

 instances they would be kept with advantage in the nursery till they 

 had attained to the age of ten years, and even more. I am inclined 

 also to the belief, that the spring is a better season than the fall to 

 plant the seed. I -will just add, that in most instances the seed is 

 likely to be covered too deeply. 



Or an inference which I think may be fairly draAvn from the 

 authorities embodied is this, that it is by no means so difficult to pro- 

 duce and bring forward the young, plant as has been generally be- 

 lieved. We are not shut up to one course, various times and man- 

 ners of planting have been successfal, and the rules of different man- 

 ners of cultivation have given equal satisfaction. Oak trees then 

 can be raised, and they should therefore be raised, because many 

 would be benefitted thereby. 



Of the general fitness of our soil to the production of the oak 

 in its full size, and greatest strength, we have pleasing demonstra- 

 tion in the majestic oaks which still remain scattered over most of 



