160 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



ma}^ be oovered with meadow ha}', or leaves. This does not keep 

 the boxes from freezing, but when once frozen it keeps them so 

 until spring. If no pit is available the boxes can be piled six or 

 seven deep in a well-sheltered spot, covering the upper boxes with 

 a few boards, the whole to be covered with leaves or other litter. 

 In the case of all the seeds I have mentioned as taking one or 

 more j'ears to germinate it is unnecessar}^ to cover the boxes with 

 litter ; but it is well to cover with boards, so that mice or squirrels 

 may not get at the seed ; and in man}' cases seed that has been so 

 frozen will often come up the first season, which otherwise would 

 not have come until the second. As soon as the weather is 

 settled, which is usuall}- about the middle of April, choose a well 

 sheltered spot, level, and hand}' to water. If the aspect can be an 

 eastern or south-eastern one I like it better, as they get the early 

 morning sun, but not the scorching sun at noonday. Place all 

 the boxes containing the nuts, acorns, and other large seeds to- 

 gether, in beds of three boxes wide. This will make it very 

 compact, and much easier to care for them than if the boxes con- 

 taining seeds of the same class are scattered about. The only 

 attention these will require is to keep them well watered and free 

 from weeds ; but for such seeds as maple, ash, Carpinus, 

 Crataegus, elm, Cladrastis, and others of like nature, it would be 

 well to cover the boxes with lath screens until they have made the 

 second or third rough leaf, when they might be gradually hardened 

 off and finally exposed fully to air and light. If a few sashes 

 could be spread to protect all delicate growing seeds it would be 

 of great advantage, and as soon as well up they could be treated 

 the same as the others. 



The use of lath screens on seed beds saves a great amount of 

 labor in watering, and if the plants are neglected for an hour or so 

 the results are not so disastrous as when the young seedlings are 

 fully exposed to the sun. Any boxes of seeds that do not come 

 up before the last of June will hardly appear that year, but will 

 require to be kept moist, the same as tiie growing plants. I 

 usually place all such boxes together in a shady spot and cover 

 them to the depth of an inch or more with sphagnum, and by 

 giving them a good watering once or twice a week they are carried 

 safely through the summer. At the approach of cold weather they 

 are gathered together, piled five or six deep as before, and 

 covered for the winter. When spring comes on they will need to 

 be treated as seed that has just been sown. For the finer seeds, 



