SUCCESSION OF FOREST TREES. 21 



walnuts whicli spring up in pastures, for, depend on it, every 

 new tree comes from a seed. When I examine tlic little oaks, 

 one or two years old, in such places, I invariably find the empty 

 acorn from which they sprung. 



So far from the seed having lain dormant in the soil since 

 oaks grew there before, as many believe, it is well known that 

 it is difficult to preserve the vitality of acorns long enough to 

 transport them to Europe ; and it is recommended in Loudon's 

 Arboretum, as the safest course, to sprout them in pots on the 

 voyage. The same authority states that " very few acorns of 

 any species will germinate after having been kept a year," 

 that beach mast " only retains its vital properties one year," 

 and the black walnut, " seldom more than six months after it 

 has ripened." I have frequently found that in November 

 almost every acorn left on the ground had sprouted or decayed. 

 AVhat with frost, drouth, moisture, and worms, the greater part 

 are soon destroyed. Yet it is stated by one botanical writer 

 that " acorns that have lain for centuries, on being ploughed up, 

 have soon vegetated." 



Mr. George B. Emerson, in liis valuable Report on the Trees 

 and Shrubs of this State, says of the pines : " The tenacity of 

 life of the seeds is remarkable. They will remain for many 

 years unchanged in the ground, protected by the coolness and 

 deep shade of the forest above them. But when the forest is 

 removed, and the warmth of the sun admitted, they immediately 

 vegetate." Since he does not tell us on what observation his 

 remark is founded, I must doubt its truth. Besides, tlie expe- 

 rience of nurserymen makes it tlie more questionable. 



The stories of wheat raised from seed buried with an ancient 

 Egyptian, and of raspberries raised from seed found in the 

 stomach of a man in England, who is supposed to have died 

 sixteen or seventeen hundred years ago, are generally dis- 

 credited, simply because the evidence is not conclusive. 



Several men of science. Dr. Carpenter among them, have 

 used the statement that beach-plums sprang up in sand which 

 was dug up forty miles inland in Maine, to prove that the seed 

 had lain there a very long time, and some have inferred that 

 the coast has receded so far. But it seems to me necessary to 

 their argument to show, first, that beach-plums grow only on a 

 beach. They arc not uncommon here, which is about half that 



