EVEHCJUEKN TKKES. 47 



fouiul wluTi' till' soil was very tliiii. over uimvl'L oi- a li'(l;uv, or 

 wliere tlu'v wi'rr Icick of ;\ liank-wuU — that is al)ove it — all 

 Iteing least sui)plie(l with the moisture necessary. l»ut few died 

 which stood in deep, moist soil. That most hardy native tree,, 

 so widely spread over our country, the Red Cedar {.Tunipcnis 

 Vmjinianfi), also dies more numerously when in dry, rocky situa- 

 tions. In the latter fatal year, I'S.s;], many of our native forest 

 trees died — lariie white pines, oaks, etc. This disastrous effect 

 was in each case caused b}' the prolonged summer and autunm 

 drought of the preceding j^ear, followed by an open winter, with 

 little rain, not nnich snow, many periods of intense cold, and 

 frequent extreme cold winds occurring during the winter and early 

 spring, and therefore very deep freezing of the ground. These 

 influences greatly weakened the vital force of all trees, as well as 

 other vegetation, before the winter set in, and the unusual winter 

 weather overtaxed the life force and produced the fatal results 

 recorded. After the winter-killing of 1872, some wn-iters declared 

 that the arbor vita^ was not a fit plant to use for hedges in dry or 

 open situations ; that its native habitat was damp, shady forests. 

 It is found in damp, even swampy, places, but it is also found 

 near by, growing on the dryest rocky upland, from seeds sown by 

 Nature, which have been wafted l)y the wind to points perhaps 

 many rods from the trees on which they grew. In fact, we have 

 no other tree, either native or foreign, adapted to so great a range 

 of soils and other conditions as the American arbor vitic, nor one 

 that will endure more neglect or abuse. In connection with the 

 statement of the winter-killing of evergreen and other trees iu 

 1.S72 and 1883, it should be added that no trees were killed in 

 places where the early snows fell and remained on the ground 

 through the winter. 



Mr. Dawson said he believed it was one duty of the Society to 

 instruct the people in horticultural knowledge, and the object of 

 his questions put to Mr. Manning was to draw out from him some 

 of the facts relating to the choice of hedge plants and the necessity 

 of a proper selection and preparation of the ground before plant- 

 ing the hedge, in order to ensure the permanence of benefits for 

 which one does the work. He was pleased with the replies to his 

 questions, and hoped they would prove valuable to those present. 



Mr. Temple believed that the reason why the Arltor \'itie is used 

 so much is its cheapness, its easy transplanting, and its beautiful 

 appearance when grown in a deep, moist soil. He considered it 



