158 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



portion of all but one grew, and that one was only two 3ears old, 

 while the oldest rei)resented the seventh year. White, Scotch, 

 Austrian, and Pitch Pine seeds came up fairly after being kept five 

 years, and might possibly have been several years old when re- 

 ceived. I have found in my experience that too much moisture is 

 fatal to the germination of old seeds, especially resinous or oily 

 ones. If sown in soil that is barely moist, and covered with drj' 

 sphagnum, so as to prevent the escape of tlie little moisture in the 

 soil, many will grow ; while if treated in the ordinar}' way the seed 

 will swell and then rot. 



A friend of mine, who does not like too much care, has a very 

 simple way of raising annually several thousand seedlings of the 

 Norway Spruce, and no doubt other evergreens might be grown 

 under similar conditions. At the back of his house he has a ^^4hite 

 pine grove, wliich is trimmed up ten or fifteen feet ; the soil is a 

 light, sand}' loam. In this he digs several beds, rakes them fine, 

 and early in May sows the seed, rakes it in lightly, and sprinkles 

 the bed lightly with pine needles. If the weather is very dr}' he 

 gives the bed one or two waterings ; if not dry, he lets it in a great 

 measure take care of itself. In these beds the seedlings remain 

 two years, when he transplants them into nursery beds, where 

 they soon make nice young plants. 



The Box System. — The remarks that I have made would apply 

 to those who wish to raise trees in large quantities, and where the 

 loss of a few hundreds in transplanting would be of no material 

 account. To those who might wish to plant an acre or so everj' 

 year, and want no failures, I would recommend another system, 

 which requires less space and labor, though pcjssibly more atten- 

 tion, but in the end any one could transplant the most difficult 

 trees, such as oak, hickory', or chestnut, with no loss. For want of 

 a better name I have called it the " box system." No doubt it 

 has often been used, but I have not heard of any one using it 

 largely except ui} self. By this method every root is preserved, 

 and not even a fibre destroyed ; there are few if any large tap roots 

 to cut off, and even if grown in the nursery afterwards they lift 

 with finer roots than the seedlings grown in the ordinar}' way ; and 

 though they will not make so vigorous a growth the first year as 

 the}' would in the open seed bed, at the end of the second year 

 after transplanting they are ahead of those of the same age grown 

 in the ordinary way ; and with no failures. Nine years ago we 

 transplanted from the seed boxes to a hill-side, in sod ground with 



