PLYMOUTH SOCIETY. 97 



There seems to be bat a single reason why there should not 

 be more attention given to the extension of our forests, and that 

 is one taking its origin in the yankee notion, that prompt pay- 

 ment must be realized for whatever we do. 



Pembroke, Sept. 1845. 



Statement of Pardon Keith. 



Annexed to this you will find plans of the three lots of forest 

 trees raised by me from the seed. 



Lot No. 1, on Salisbury Plain, is a thin, poor soil, exhausted 

 many years ago. It was first ploughed about seventy years 

 ago, it was last planted about twelve years ago. It was sown 

 with pine and birch seed, but principally pine, at several differ- 

 ent times, from 1837 to 1840. A portion of the trees were 

 transplanted from 1840 to 1845. The greater part of the lot 

 was furrowed with a plough, and the pine seed left on the side 

 of the furrow without covering. There are more than three 

 thousand trees raised from the seed now on this lot. 



Lot No. 2, is a gravelly, poor soil, surrounded by old wood 

 lands ; was last ploughed in 1830, at which time it was mostly 

 covered by what is usually called " woods grass" and may 

 truly be said to be worthless for cultivation. The pine seed 

 was sown with the rye, at the usual time of sowing winter rye, 

 in 1830. The lot was first ploughed about fifty years ago, 

 when it was thought best to subdue all the wood lots capable of 

 cultivation, whether nearer or more remote from the owners' 

 buildings. The value of this lot is increased more than four- 

 fold by means of this seeding. There are more than two thou- 

 sand trees raised from the seed on the lot ; but how many more 

 I cannot say, as they were not all counted. 



Lot No. 3, is a hard, husky, stony soil, first ploughed about 

 fifty years ago ; has been exhausted by continual mowing and 

 tillage, with little manure, being far from the owner's barn. In 

 1839 I planted the pine seed by digging small holes with a hoe ; 

 filled the holes with the earth dug out, and put the seed on the 

 top. merely dusting the seed over after it was dropped. More 

 than twelve hundred pines, raised from the seed, have been 

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