124 Tlie JJ estern Fnmolngist and Gardener. 1872 



nanaeement of Young Evergreens from tbe Porest. 



Samuel Edwards, Jr., of La Moille, 111., who is largely engaged in spring time in the for- 

 est evergreen trade at Green Bay, Wis., gives the following directions for the management 

 of forest seedlings: 



Have good ground, thoroughly prepared, tine and mellow, at leaist a foot deep. This 

 should be done beforehand, to prevent delay when the plants are received. Put the boxes 

 immediately in a cool, shady place, and only unpack as wanted for planting. Take out a 

 few at a time and " puddle " the roots, coating every fibre with mud about the consistence 

 of cream. Plant With garden trowels, a little deeper than they stood before, and pretty 

 thick — say two or tliree inches apart and not in rows at all — making the hole for one as 

 you press the dirt carefnllj- against the last one before. In this way a man will set several 

 thousand in a day — more than double what he can do with a spade. Use a wide board to 

 stand upon, in planting, so as not to tread upon the prepared ground. As soon as planted 

 ■water them freely (thoroughly .sprinkling with a water pot). 



The plants must be shaded immediately. A convenient plan is to leave the beds some 

 four to six feet wide, running east and west, having a board twelve or eighteen inches 

 wide, set up edgewise, on the south side, and stakes on the north ; and upon these, poles 

 and brush with green leaves upon it, forming a dense shade at first, which will gradually 

 become thinner, as some of the leaves drop off, and then plants become able to bear more 

 light. The stakes should be some higher than the board, giying the whole top a slope 

 towards the south, so as to admit light and air from the north. They wdll require very 

 little further attention, except an occasional liberal watering in very dry weather, and 

 keeping out weeds, which will be few, if well shaded. 



In the following spring, the shading should be removed. The plants are better to stand 

 in the beds two years, thinning them if too thick ; when they should be transplanted into 

 nursery rows. Treated in this way, but a small proportion will be likely to fail. 



Mesquite GtjM OF Texas. — Mr. F. Kalteyer, Treasurer of the Agricultural and Indus- 

 trial Association of Western Texas, says the mesquite gum of that region is almost iden- 

 tical with gum arabic, having been in use- there for medicinal and technical purposes, 

 especially in the preparation of mucilage, gum drops, jujube paste, etc. The past year it 

 has become an article of export, some 13,000 pounds having been gathered in Bexar 

 county, and as much more between that and the coast. No gum is gathered west of Bexar 

 though the drought was favorable to a large crop. This gum is hardly known east of the 

 Brazos. It exudes from the stem and branches of a Mimosa, several species of which 

 grow in Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona. One of these species Algarobia glandulosa, 

 (Torrey and Gray, N. A. F., 399,) is rarely met with below the mountain regions of West- 

 ern Texas. The species most common in Bexar county grows from twenty to forty feet 

 high, and eighteen inches thick. From it charcoal is manufactured. It is generally used 

 for picket poles, being very durable. It is also made into (handsome furniture, the grain 

 being very fine, It grows where no other fruit tree would live. It was favorably noticed 

 in the last annual report of the American Pharmaceutical Association. 



Destkuction op Evergreens. — We learn from some of our New England exchanges 

 that the past winter and spring have been very disastrous to evergreens and plants all 

 over the Eastern States. The Boston Journal says : " We hear of some of the largest nur- 

 series which lost more than half their stock of this class of trees. We are told that Mr. 

 Hunnewell, whose beautiful place at Wellesley is so well known, lost over 2,000 Rhodo- 

 dendrons, and the noted Parsons nurseries on Long Island lost great quantities of Rhodo- 

 dendrons and evergreens. The same fact is true of other nurseries. Strawberries have 

 also suffered terribly, and it is the judgment of some of our most experienced horticultur- 

 ists that nearly one half of the strawberry vines in New England were killed by the severe 

 winter. This matter was the subject of discussion at the meeting of the Horticultural 

 Society, on Saturday, and a committee of which Hon. M. P. Wilder. is chairman, was 

 appointed to investigate the subject and report upon it. 



