16 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



allowed to stand. As an evidence of this, I observed a dis- 

 eased red maple twenty-five feet long, which had been recently 

 prostrated, though it was still covered with green leaves, the 

 only maple in any position in the wood. 



But although these oaks almost invariably die if the pines 

 are not cut down, it is probable that they do better for a few- 

 years under their shelter than they would anywhere else. 



The very extensive and thorough experiments of the English 

 have at length led them to adopt a method of raising oaks 

 almost precisely like this, which somewhat earlier had been 

 adopted by nature and her squirrels here ; they have simply 

 re-discovered the value of pines as nurses for oaks. The English 

 experimenters seem early and generally to have found out the 

 importance of using trees of some kind as nurse plants for the 

 young oaks. I quote from Loudon what he describes as " the 

 ultimatum on the subject of planting and sheltering oaks " — 

 an " abstract of the practice adopted by the government 

 officers in the national forests " of England, prepared by 

 Alexander Milne. 



At first some oaks had been planted by themselves, and 

 others mixed with Scotch pines ; " but in all cases," says 

 Mr. Milne, " where oaks were planted actually among the 

 pines, and surrounded by them, [though the soil might be 

 inferior,] the oaks were found to be much the best." " For 

 several years past, the plan pursued has been to plant the 

 inclosures with Scotch pines only, [a tree very similar to our 

 pitch pine,] and when the pines have got to the height of five 

 or six feet, then to put in good strong oak plants of about four 

 or five years' growth among the pines — not cutting away any 

 pines at first, unless they happen to be so strong and thick 

 as to overshadow the oaks. In about two years, it becomes 

 neccs?ary to shred the branches of the pines, to give light and 

 air to the oaks, and in about two or three more years to begin 

 gradually to remove the pines altogether, taking out a certain 

 number each year, so that, at the end of twenty or twenty-five 

 years, not a single Scotch pine shall be left ; although, for the 

 first ten or twelve years, the plantation may have appeared to 

 contain nothing else but pine. The advantage of this mode of 

 planting has been found to be that the pines dry and ameliorate 

 the soil, destroying the coarse grass and brambles which 



