116 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



ploughed, or pulverized, or cleared of roots and rubbish, except 

 one acre. Furrows had been drawn across it, ten feet apart, 

 and in the spring of 183G and 1837, three pounds of locust 

 seed had been sown ; and in the fall of 1837, between one and 

 two bushels of white oak acorns were planted, all of both 

 kinds, along these furrows, in which they were covered with 

 earth. From the locust seed, he supposed more than ten 

 thousand plants came up ; but from the acorns, not a single 

 plant ! 



To secure the germination of the locust, he thinks it abso- 

 lutely necessary to soak the seed in hot water — of course not 

 too hot ; and he imputes the total absence of young oaks to an 

 early frost injuring the acorns ; but as they could be easily 

 found scattered along in rows, and slightly covered, I should 

 rather charge it to the squirrels. 



I would suggest to any person disposed hereafter to plant a 

 forest, to completely pulverize the whole soil, and sow the 

 seed broadcast on the furrows, and of various kinds, and at all 

 depths. 



As Mr. Webster sowed but two kinds of seed, and but one 

 came up at all, we were called upon to look at only quite a 

 number of locust trees, scattered over ten acres of ground ; and 

 as these looked rather unpromising, the generous premium 

 must be considered to have been awarded rather to the labor of 

 making an experiment, than to any promised success. 



Mr. Webster says in his statement, that in 1835 the land was 

 covered with birches, and some white oak and maple ; and 

 on examining the lot a few years afterwards, I was fully of the 

 opinion that the growth of wood would have been quite as 

 valuable had nothing been done but to exclude cattle from 

 browsing upon the trees and under-wood of native growth. 



I again examined the lot on the 13th of the present Novem- 

 ber, twenty-two years after the first visit and the premium, 

 and I now consider the experiment rather more successful than 

 I had previously expected, so far as the locust is concerned. 

 About one acre, in one corner of the lot, is well covered with 

 locust trees, thirty to forty feet high, and six or eight inches 

 through, and in rather a thrifty state. There was a thin scat- 

 tering of locust in other parts of the lot; and if locust timber 

 is as lasting for fence posts, and other uses requiring durable 



