CULTURE OF TREES. 119 



Another reason why our wood increases so fast is, as before 

 named the great increase of the use of coal as fuel. Twenty-one 

 years ago, I was, with one exception, the only householder 

 making use of coal in the town ; now it is in use in almost 

 every family ; and for the last two years, nearly eight hundred 

 tons have been imported and consumed — taking the place, 

 according to my observation, of about sixteen hundred cords of 

 wood ! 



Fifty years ago, it was a common thing for the farmers of 

 Essex County to sell their farms and remove to newer States, in 

 alarm at the approaching scarcity of wood and timber. My 

 father-in-law, who sold his farm in what is now Georgetown, in 

 1780, and removed to New Hampshire, spent many anxious 

 thoughts upon his old neighbors, how they were to get along 

 when the fast decreasing woods were all consumed ; forty years 

 afterwards he returned to this vicinity, without finding any 

 trouble in obtaining fuel ! The committee who made the last 

 valuation of this town, report that the wood is little, if any, 

 diminished within the last forty years. 



The walnut is a beautiful tree, easily raised from the seed, 

 and of much more rapid growth than the oak. The wood is 

 excellent, both for fuel and timber, and the fruit is highly 

 valued, especially among children ; and it is generally a good 

 bearer. 



The elm starts readily from the seed, which ripens in great 

 abundance, before the leaves form, every spring, and may be 

 sown and produce a thrifty plant the same year ! It is a tree of 

 great beauty, thrives in almost every soil, is of rapid growth, 

 and produces valuable wood, both for fuel and timber. In 1845 

 I brought two trees under my carriage, both of which I could 

 carry easily upon my shoulder at once, and set them out in the 

 street in front of my house. The largest tree girths, by meas- 

 urement to-day, one foot from the ground, three feet and two 

 inches. A row of elms from the seed sixteen years ago, set 

 from the garden on the river bank, are now, several of them, 

 twenty feet high and six inches through. 



I propose to add a few words upon Worms injurious to 

 Forest Trees. 



Mr. Cofhn, in his History of Newbury, gives an extract from 

 the margin of an almanac of 1736, written by the Hon. Bailey 



