THE PINE-TREE AND FIR-TREE. 17 



There are thousands of acres of land that can scarcely be 

 put to any tillage purposes, that will pay well for grow- 

 ing the Larch Fir ; in fact, as well, all things considered, 

 as an annual tillage of the land ; for when we take the 

 expenses into account, we find that these Larch-trees 

 nett as much profit as other things. But leaving this 

 out of the question, the Larch Fir will grow where the 

 land will not pay for an annual tillage at all. This is 

 my reason for recommending the planting of timber 

 trees on all accounts. 



All the Fir and Pine tribes may be propagated by 

 seed, of which some of the more hardy and common 

 sorts may be obtained from English- grown trees ; but 

 for some of the rarer sorts recourse must be had to 

 foreign seed merchants, or those who import the cones. 

 It is true most of them will bear cones in this country ; 

 but I find some perfect very few seeds, or next to none. 

 The Scotch, the Cembra, the Pi tins Insignis, the Spruce, 

 and the Larch will perfect good seed here. This should 

 be gathered as soon as ripe, and the cones kept dry till 

 spring, when about March they may be laid in deep tin 

 pans, or some such utensils, and set in the full focus of 

 the sun under glass. In this situation the cones will 

 open, and let the seed out, which must then be put into 

 paper bags as it comes to hand, and sown in deep seed- 

 pans in April, using a compost consisting of sandy 

 maiden loam. In sowing the seed of the Fir tribes, 

 and, in fact, all the Conifene, care must be taken not 

 to cover it too deep. I once gave my young man half 

 a pound of Cupre&sus seed to sow on a given spot in 

 the open ground (for it may be sown in the open 

 ground, provided the soil suits it, and the necessary 

 care is taken afterwards in order to insure success), 

 when he forgot my directions, and having sown it 

 he raked it in an inch deep. Of course none of it 

 came up. 



The seed-pans should be filled firmly with the com- 

 post up to within half an inch, and made solid by 

 shaking it down and knocking the pan on the bench, 

 also by pressing the soil in with the ends of the fingers. 



