EW ENGLAND EARI^IEK. 



; 



Mi.^hed by Joiln B. Rijssell at the cor«t of Congress ami LiiuliUl Streets, (ciitraiue tVoin Lindall Street). — Thomas G. Fessemikiv toitor. 



OL. V. 



iS) 



STON, Fill DAY, JA> liRlY 12, 1827. 



No. 25. 



)illGINAL FAVEiltS, 



:_.^- -^ „: ^^_-_^_-^:. 



FOREST TRKES. 

 e.KK Sir — Having rea;l n communication, from 

 irrcspondent of Rockingham, New IlampilifO, 

 our paper of yesterday, requestinu; informltion 

 Ir' 11, ode of gathering and plantiuij the seWs 

 le White and Pitch jiines. Cedar, Uock-Mkple, 

 :in 1 Button-wooil, I enclose you a letl* to 

 \. Tyni, Esq., on the cultivation of the last 

 cii tree. j 



\ii>\\cr.sto the queries, relative to the Wliitc 

 e und Elm, may be found in the New Engan i 

 mor of the l.jth and 22i of September lasl 

 aving raised the Rock-Maple from the sehl. I 

 cmnmunicate in a few days, such inform*ii'n 

 possess, a.s to the method of cultivating libit 

 t valuable trie, and endeavor to answer Uie 

 r questions of your correspondent. \ 



Very respectfully, , 



Your most o^ed't serv't, 



H. A. S. DEARBORN. 

 Irinlet/ Pltiee, Roxbury, ) 

 •ail. Gth, 1S27. ) 



'EAR Sir — It affords me pleasure to answer 

 r queries relative to the cuUivatiuu of Ihe 

 crican Plane tree. I 



'ho balls, contiau from twelve to fifteen b 

 d seeds, and generally remain upon the tr- 

 il spring, when they f.»ll to pieces, and e 

 d being invested with a bristly down, foritiuj 

 >lic:itc paracHute, th«>y are wafted to .i feiu-ii, 

 ance by the wind. Tliey ripen late and slioul;! 

 be collected until some time after the autumnal 

 ;ts have causeil the leaves to drop from the 

 3. When thoroughly dry, bre:ik them up an.i 

 ar'ate the seeds by rubbing them between your 

 ids; but if the seeds are not to be sown until 

 ing, — whirh I think the preferable time, — it is 

 It to put the balls in a dry place and not break 

 m to pieces until the period of sowing ; or the 

 Is may be coll.Tted fom the trees in Marth ; 

 latter raoiie I have followed with success. 

 'or a seminary, select a rather moist piece of 

 jund, which has been planted for one or two 

 irs. Prepare it by digging, or ploughing, and 

 iing, until the mould is fine and light. If the 

 1 is not rich, it should be manured. Sow the 

 ids broad <5ast, very thick, and rake them in. so 

 It they shall be completely covered, — takiii;: 

 re to leave the ground level and smooth.— ^ 

 hether sown in autumn or spring I have nevor 

 led to have an abundance of plants ; but reioni 

 ;nd the spring, as the better season. Prom a 

 d less tlian a foot wide and about 25 yards lou". 

 wn in the spring of 18'25, I set out last April. 

 er 4flO plants, that are now from three to five 

 et high. 



When the ^ilants first appear in the seed beds. 

 ey are very tender and liable to be killed by a 

 )t sun, particularly if the ground should be dry 

 that time ; it is, therefore, e-xpedient to screen 

 lem for a few weeks, either by mats, or brush 

 irown over some poles, resting upon crotched 

 akes, two or three feci above the ground. 

 I have usually transplanted thom into a nursery, 

 hen a year old, placing them a foot apart, in the 



ro.i.s, wliicii »iiould lie three feel asunder. Wlioii 

 throe or four years old, tliey may be removed and 

 planted ai)out your grounds or house, for shade, 

 oriianicnt or fuel. 



The seedbeds should be kept dear nf weeds, and 

 the ground in the nursery between the rows, dug 

 ovr even/ syring, and often hoid and raktd. 



It is very remarkable that the cultivation of the 

 Plane has not claimed grea-er attemion in tliis 

 country, being the loftiest, largest, and most mag- 

 nilireiit of our forest trees. As a shade it is su- 

 perior to all others, for its broad and beautiful 

 rfreen leaves, excluding the direct rays of the sun, 

 admit a mellow light, while tiie di-tance between 

 thom rnd the far-spreading branches permits a free 

 circulation of air, without tliat damp and gloomy 

 umbrafjeousness which all tlic evergreens of the 

 temperate zones, and most of the decid.uous trees, 

 produce, when planted round a mansion house. 



The Oriental Plane is renowned for the admira- 

 tion in which' it was held, and the care bestowed 

 upon its cultivation by the Asiatics, Greeks, and 

 Romans, and still claims pre-eminence among the 

 forest trees which embellish the extensive parks, 

 public squares, and avenues of Europe. 



Evelyn is unqualified in^his coinrnendatigns of 

 this monarch of the forest, and I extract the fol- 

 lowing paragraphs from his Sylva, — the encyclo- 

 pedia-of the arboriculturist. 



" This beautiful and precious tiee, anciently sa- 

 " cred to Helena, was so iloiited on by Xerxes, tliat 

 '• ,Eliar. and other uuthors toll us, he made a halt, 

 " ind tlopucd his pror'i^ious army of I./Oti.OHO 

 " soldiers, to admire the pulchritude and procerity 

 " of one of them ; and becoming so fond of it, that 

 "spoiling both himself, his concubines, and great 

 •' persons of all their jewels, he covered it with 

 " gold, geins, necklaces, scarfs, bracelets, and in- 

 finite riches ; and when he was forced to part 

 from it, he caused the figure of it to be stamped 

 on a medal of gold, which he continually wore 

 about him." 



" Wherever they built their sumptuous and mag- 

 nificent colleges for the exercise of youth in 

 " gymnastics ; and where the grave philosophers 

 " also met to converse together and improve their 

 " studies, they planted walks of Platans, to refresh 

 " and shade the Peeles'ri'a;." And Hunter adds in 

 a note, " The Oriental Plane tree was greatly res- 

 •• pected by the ancients, for its lOoling shade ; 



Jamquc miidstrantem FlitHiii.oi i otanlil'Us umhiani.'* 



),rgn. 

 " In the Academia, or School of Plato, the philos- 

 '■ ophers used to w.ilk and converse under the shaue 

 "formed by these deligiitfu! trees." 



" These trees the Romans first brought out of 

 " the Levant, and cultivated vvith so much industry 

 " and cost, for their st.ifely and proud heads only, 

 " that the first great orators :;nii statesmen, Cicero 

 ■' and Horteneius, would exchange, now and then 

 " a turn at the bar, that they might have the pleas- 

 « ure to step lo their villas and refresh their Pla 

 "tans, whi.'h they would often irrigate with wine 

 " instead of water." 



Pliny thus alludes to these generous libations — 

 " tantupiqiie postoa honoris incrcvit. ut mcro infu 



* The Haae tree administering shade to wine drinkers. 



so euutriantur : . ompertum id maxime prodesse 



radicibus-i docuimusque etiam arbores vina po- 



tare."* ? 



Accordingto this illustrious Roman naturalist, 

 the I'lane tree was first brought over the Ionian 

 sea into the island of Diomedes, for a monument 

 to that hero : thence it passed into Sicily and soon 

 after into Italy. He describes one which grew by 

 the side of a groat road, near a cool fountain, in 

 Lycia, which was so largo that its top resembled a 

 smalt forestj.mid the trunk being hollow, formed a 

 rotto, eight/-( ne feet in circumference, in which 

 Licinius Mutianus, the Roman governor of that 

 province, pfissed the night, with eighteen persons 

 of his suit. 



He describes another wliich grew in Veletri, of 

 such vast ei^c, and its main branches were so dis- 

 posed as to form a kind of banqueting room, where 

 the emperor Caligula gave an entertainment which 

 he called the feast of the nest, to fifteen persons, 

 and although he occupied a large portion of this 

 shaded retreat, there was ample room lor his 

 guests and their attendants. 



Evelyn gives to Lord Bacon the credit of intro- 

 ducing the •I'Plane tree into England, lie having 

 first plante(}'thcm at Verulam. 



Toclor Hunter in the notes to his last edition of 

 Evelyn's Sylva observes that "at Ribston, the seat 

 " of Sir Henry Goodrich; there is now growing a 

 "beautiful Platanus, the principal limb of whicli 

 " extends forty-four feet from tlie boll, and what 

 " is more iifmarkable, this tree grows close to the 

 "or!gir:;!4^!p tree, known by the name of the 

 " Ribstoii pippin, from whose staik have epruug a 

 " numerous progeny " Ho describes another at 

 Shadwell-I-odge in the county of Norfolk, the 

 seat of .Tolin Buxton, Esq. remarkable for its rapid 

 growth. When planted in April 1744 it was eight 

 feet high ; and when measured in April 1775 it 

 was i>'> feet 9 inches high, and 7 feet 9 inches in 

 circnmference half a foot from the ground. 



Michaux in his North American Sylva, observes" 

 that "the species which grows in the western 

 • world is not less remarkable for its amplitude 

 •':'nd for its magnificent appearance than the Plane 

 " of Asia, whose majestic form and extraordinary 

 " size were so much celebrated by the ancients," 

 and that it " is generally thought, in Europe, to 

 " possess a richer fi.*liage and to afford a darker 

 " shade than the Asiatic Plane." 



He desciibes one measured by his father, on an 

 island in the Ohio, fifteen miles above the Mus- 

 kingum, which was 40 feet and 4 inches in cir- 

 cinnference, five feet from the ground. In 1802 

 he measured another on the Ohio 36 miles from 

 Marietta, wliich was 47 feet in circumference, 

 four feet from the ground ; and observes that a 

 canoe was made, a few years before he visited the 

 western states, for navigating the Wabash, from 

 a single Button Wood, which was 65 feet long, 

 and carried 9,1 lOO pounds. 



The iudifierence of the citizens of the United 

 States, to the cultivation of forest trees, is lament- 



* And so great was their veneration for it that 

 they nourished it with wine and water, that being 

 found to benefit its roots. Thus we have taught 

 even trees to drink wine. 



