V 7 I. PROPAGATION. 



to three inches deep, put in the seeds pretty thickly, 

 cover them completely, tread the earth down upon them ; 

 and then smooth the surface. When the plants come up, 

 thin them to about three inches apart ; and keep the 

 ground between them perfectly clean during the sum- 

 mer. Hoe frequently ; but not deep near the plants ; for, 

 we are speaking of trees here j and trees do not renew 

 their roots quickly as a cabbage or a turnip does. These 

 young trees should be kept, during the first summer, as 

 moist as possible, without watering ; and the way to keep 

 them as moist as possible, is, to keep the ground per- 

 fectly clean, and to hoe it frequently. I cannot help ob- 

 serving here upon an observation of Mr. MARSHALL : 

 " As to weeding" says he, " though seedling trees must 

 " not be smothered, yet some small weeds may be suffered 

 " to grow in summer, as they help to shade the plants 

 " and to keep the ground cool." Mercy on this gentle- 

 man's readers! Mr. MARSHALL had not read TULL ; if 

 he had, he never would have written this very erroneous 

 sentence. It is the root of the weed that does the 

 mischief. Let there be a rod of ground well set with 

 even " small weeds" and another rod kept weeded. Let 

 them adjoin each other. Go, after fifteen or twenty days 

 of dry weather j examine the two - } and you will find the 

 weedless ground moist and fresh, while the other is dry 

 as dust to a foot deep. The root of the weed sucks up 

 every particle of moisture. What pretty things they are, 

 then, to keep seedling trees cool ! To proceed : these 

 seedlings, if well managed, will be eight inches high, and 

 some higher, at the end of the first summer. The next 

 spring they should be taken up ; or, this may be done in 

 the fall They should be planted in rows, four feet 



