74 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



Mr. Pratt. The men went along, one following the 

 other, say 8 feet apart, and with a grul) hoe dug up the sod, 

 dropped in the seed, then stepped on it, crowding it in the 

 sod. The land was an old pasture, located so far away from 

 our homestead that it was unsuitable to drive the cattle to. 

 It was my duty to drive the cows there every morning and 

 go after them every night. It was two miles away, and it 

 was a sorry job. As a boy I dreaded it, and when my father 

 gave me leavje to plant it, I thought I was killing two birds 

 with one stone. The huckleberry bushes had started a 

 little, from 2 to 21/2 feet high, but as a general thing we 

 could go pretty straight. It was a very simple process, and 

 very rapidly performed. I want to add that it is not entirely 

 safe to plant pine seed unless 3'ou furnish the young seed- 

 lings some i)rotection, some shade at the beginning of 

 grow th. The hot sun is liable to kill a number of the 3'oung 

 seedlings, if not protected. Some of you may recall that 

 the late Judge John D. Lyman of Exeter, N. H., had a 

 method of planting pine seed which I have thought I would 

 try some time, and I hope some one has tried it. lie just 

 sowed the seed broadcast with a little rye. His idea was 

 that the rye would shade the }'oung pines so that they would 

 be able to grow. 



I want to make a comparison between this planting of 

 mine and one done by a neighbor two or three years after- 

 wards. He transplanted seedlings. My pine lot made good 

 timber, while his, })lanted in the same town, and not more 

 than 3 miles away, after a few years began to si)rout from 

 the root. I Avas on his lot some eight years ago, — it has 

 since been sold, and all cut ofl', — and I was astonished to 

 see that but a very small portion of it was good timber ; 

 none of it actually fit to put into what we call edge boards 

 for l)uilding purposes, — it would make short box boards. 

 I do not know how to account for the different results, unless 

 it was because of the pine Aveevil, of which my neighbor had 

 a good many, and I none. 



A thought has occurred to me about the distribution of 

 tree seeds. Our national government is doing a big seed 

 business, and has been for many years. Every member of 



