ON FOREST TREES. 105 



planting the seed of the locust in October, 1835, and 

 not discouraged by the failure of most of the seed to 

 germinate, or the destruction of the young plants 

 by the winter of 1836-7, has continued to plant ex- 

 tensively the seeds of the locust, ash, elm, also wal- 

 nuts and chesnuts, to the present time, until the lar- 

 ger part of about nine acres of land has been plant- 

 ed ; generally in furrows ten feet apart. But few of 

 the walnuts came up, and of a bushel of acorns 

 planted in the fall of 1837, not one germinated, 

 owing, as he supposes, to having been injured by 

 frost before planting. Mr. Webster has found it ne- 

 cessary to soak locust seed from twelve to twenty 

 hours in hot water before planting, to insure their 

 germinating. He also showed the committee a pro- 

 mising nursery of ash trees, sown in his garden the 

 last fall, and another of elms from twelve to eighteen 

 inches high, which were planted in June from seed 

 the growth of the present year. The committee vis- 

 ited his plantation on the twentieth September in- 

 stant. .The soil is dry and gravelly, and the land 

 in 1835 was mostly covered with white birch and 

 some white oak and maple trees. Previously to 

 planting trees, only one acre of the field had been 

 ploughed. The seed was dropped in furrows made 

 with the plough in the sward, at ten feet distance, 

 and covered with the hoe. Mr. W. exhibited to the 

 committee a considerable number of ash and button- 

 wood trees in a thrifty state, which he had transplant- 

 ed, some of the latter were growing thrifty from 

 .slips set in the wettest part of the land. But the at- 

 tention of your committee was particularly directed 

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