OUR NATIVE TREES. 47 



grow within a few miles of Boston. They can best be grown b}- 

 preserving those which are self planted. They spring up where 

 nuts are dropped by squiri'els, among rocks and in out-of-the-way 

 places, where nothing else of value would grow. There they 

 should grow. The Bitternut hickory, Carya amara, however, is a 

 fine shade tree. It is a wide spreading, symmetrical, densely 

 foliaged tree. The Pig-nut hickory, C. porcina, has a well- 

 balanced cylindrical top, with rich foliage. The Mocker-nut, C. 

 tomentosa., is a large irregular tree of not much beaut}'. The 

 Shag-bark, C. alba, is a tree which the painters like for the pic- 

 turesque effects of its irregular branching. These and most nut- 

 bearing trees are best raised by planting the nuts where the trees 

 are to grow. I need not tell the skilful nurseryman, however, that 

 in the case of the hickories, oaks, etc. when properly treated in 

 the nursery by transplanting twice at least, and pruning tap-roots, 

 a growth of fibrous roots will be secured which will ensure success 

 in a final transplanting. 



The Oaks are among the mcst important trees in New England. 

 As I have remarked, there are at least nine species in Massachu- 

 setts which grow to the size of trees ; and two are shrubs. The 

 smallest, the Chinquapin oak, Qaercus chinquapin, grows only to 

 a size sufficient for a whipstick or a cane ; while the largest, the 

 AVhite oak, Q. alba, in size, strength, and all the sturdy qualities 

 which we find in trees is truly the " Monarch of the Wood." 

 But the destruction of our oaks (especially of the white oak) 

 which is caused in supplying the demand for their timber is greatly 

 to be deplored. It takes centuries for a white oak to attain 

 mature growth ; and it will live, a grand triumph of sylvan strength 

 and beauty, for centuries after that. Six or seven miles from 

 Boston, in the town of Belmont, near the Waverly station on the 

 Fitchburg Railroad, is one of the most remarkable groups of 

 white oaks in New England, and, for aught I know, in the country. 

 The}' number twenty or more, and are scattered over five or six 

 acres of ground. Some of the largest grow from gravel ridges 

 which Professor Agassiz reported as probably the ternLinal moraine 

 of a local glacier. Their roots, however, feed from the rich allu- 

 vial deposits near the ridges ; and some of them drink from the 

 waters of Beaver Brook, Professor Agassiz was interested in 

 these trees, and I am told estimated the age of the largest, then 

 lying partly decayed upon the ground, to be eight hundred years. 



