AND HORTICULTURAL REGISTER. 



VOL. XVII.] 



PUnLISHED BY JOSEPH BUECK & CO., NO. 52 NORTH MARKET STREET, (Agbicultobal Warehouse.) 

 BOSTON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, FEBRUARY 27, 1839. 



[NO. 34. 



N. E. FARMER. 



VEGETABLE PHYSIOLOGY AND THE CUL- 

 TURE OF FOREST TREES. 



The following correspondence, whicli we have 

 been perniiUed to publish, contains some interest- 

 ing facts in relation. to Vegetable Physiology and 

 the culture of forest trees. 



Hampden^ Penobscot Co. Maine. } 

 May 14, 1838. 5 



General Dearborn, 



Dear Sir — .Having been much instructed by 

 your letters on planting forest trees, recently pub- 

 lished by a committee of the citizens of Bangor, 

 who are at this moment, you know, all alive to the 

 subject, it has occurred to me that I may venture 

 without any especial introduction, to communicate 

 •,o you the details of some very recent observations 

 n relation to the form and growth of our forest 

 ;rees, which I believe to be new, and possibly en- 

 .itled to a more extended examination than may be 

 nade on this or any other single position, assured 

 hat, if nothing interesting shall be found in them, 

 '. may find an apology for the trouble of this let- 

 ,er in the motive which has induced it. 



The fact that the trunks of our trees, especially 

 he lower portions of them, are not cylindrical, 

 )ut elliptical is, I suppose, familiar with every one 

 n this timber growing, and timber cutting country. 



But that these ellipses are parallel with each 

 tther, and that this form and this arrangement are 

 lot the consequences of accident, or of local and 

 lartial, but of causes constant and uniform in their 

 jperation, are truths, which, as far as I know, have 

 ;hus far escaped tlie notice of horticulturists and 

 jthers curious in these matters. 



Measuring last week, a row of Elms planted in 

 1820, for the information of a friend in Bangor, I 

 jbserved that the trunks were not only elliptical, 

 'or this I had frequently noticed, but that the ellip- 

 ses were parallel, and that the course of the long- 

 ist diameter was about 30"^ to 33° cast of south 

 ind west of north, on the true meridian, and that 

 ;hc southeasterly curve was the quickest or more 

 elongated than that on the opposite side. 

 As the form of these trees might possibly be affect- 

 2d by their too close, or crowded positions, in the row 

 which is east and west, I proceeded to measure a 

 large number of trees of various kinds, sojne of 

 them standing in open ground, others in a thick 

 grove, and others on the margin of tlie thick wood 

 with open ground on one side only. In these va- 

 rious situations, the trees were taken promiscuously 

 rejecting only such as were misshaped by accident. 

 No difference material to the principle could be 

 perceived, either in the form or in the direction of 

 the ellipses. 



It is important here to remark that the largest 

 roots and most thrifty branches are evidently dis- 

 'posed with reference to the longest diameter of the 

 3llipsis — the strongest and most extended of these 

 ;o the southeastward. 



The form of the trunk, then, is very clearly refer- 

 able to the disposition of the principal roots and bran- 

 ches and is a necessary consequence of the recipro- 

 cal action of these upon each other. But why this 

 peculiar and uniform disposition of the roots and 

 branches, is an enquiry not so readily answered. 

 And should it be deemed worthy any farther pur- 

 suit, I beg that the following circumstances may be 

 kept in view. 



The line of the ellipses is nearly perpendicula;- 

 to the line of the sex coast. It is also nearly in a line 

 with our most violent southeasterly winds, and not 

 many degrees from that of our northwesterly. 



It is a very familiar fact that our rivers and water 

 courses have a decided Lnfiuence upon tlie trees 

 in tlieir vicinity, inducing an unusually abundant 

 and vigorous vegetation on the water side. How 

 far the humidity of the sea, combined with the 

 general warmth of the morning sun, may influence 

 one side of trees, at a distance of 20 or 30 miles, 1 

 will not undertake to conjecture, but while I do not 

 presume to give any precise value to this circum- 

 stance, I think it worth keeping in view in any 

 farther investigation, till" farther observation shall 

 determine. 



That the strong winds alluded to, by constantly, 

 or very frequently, agitating the tree and trying its 

 strength, should induce corresponding efforts to re- 

 sist their force and to extend its supports, enlarge 

 its trunk in the line of assault, and lessen the vol- 

 ume of branches and foliage in the lateral direc- 

 tions, so as to present the least possible surface to 

 the action of the assailant All this is very intel- 

 ligible because it is in accordance with the uniform 

 operations of nature. But if this were the sole 

 cause of the phenomena in question, it were diffi- 

 cult to understand why these arrangements should 

 not conform more exactly with the almost uniform 

 current of these winds. If however the causes 

 suggested sliall be found to unite their slightly 

 varying forces to produce the effects, it will be 

 seen that they respectively modify without over- 

 coming each other. The direction of the ellipses, 

 is in a line inclining from the perpendicular of the 

 coast, towards the line of the S. E. and N. W. 

 winds, but coincident with neither, 

 ftlost respectfully. Sir, 



Your very obedient servant, 



JEDEDIAH HERitlCK. 



This table shows the greatest, the least, and the 

 average difference of diameter in the order ex- 

 pressed, the difference being a proportion of the 

 longest diameter. 



20 Elms, 1-5 1-28 1-11 of thelongestdiameter. 



15 Oaks, 1-7 1-30 1-15 . " 



Firs, 1-6 1-46 1-25 



4 Birches, 1-5 1-9 1-7 " " " 

 4 Baswood, 1-5 1-11 1-7 " " « 

 8 Beaches, 1-8 1-12 1-10 " « " 

 3Hemlocks,l-12 1-18 1-15 " " 

 4 other Hemlocks wer« found to be nearly cyl- 

 indrical. 



Haullwrn Cottage, > 

 Rorbury, May \6, 1838.5 



DrAR Sir — I am extremely obliged to you;, iaT 

 the very interesting facts, which you have so kind- 

 ly communicated, in relation to the contour of the 

 trunk and the extension of the branches and roots 

 of forest trees. They were new to me, and I do not 

 recollect to have socn any allusion, in the works oa 

 botany and vegetable physiology, to the elliptical 

 form of the cross section of the main stem, which 

 from the statement you have made, appears to be 

 universally the case, and to have been long and 

 generally known, to the "timber-cutting" citizens 

 of Maine. The cause of that peculiarity seems, 

 however, to Be si'fBciently apparent. You state, 

 that the longest diameter of the ellipse is in a di- 

 rection from north 30" to .33" west, to south 30" to 

 33" east ; and that the branches and roots, as well 

 as the elliptical section of the taree are elongated, 

 rn a southeasterly direction. 



Now, it has been established, by experiment, that 

 a soutli-easte.Jf- exposition is the most eligible for 

 the fronts of green- houses, as that affords the best 

 opportunity to the plants, for receiving the earliest 

 morning rays of the sun, and for enjoying them for 

 tlie longest period, and especially, at those seasons 

 of the year, when their vivifying influence is most 

 required and congenial. The line, therefore, which 

 has been found preferable to all others for the fa- 

 cade of green-houses, or the direction of such 

 walls, as are intended lo favor the growth of fruits 

 and other vegetables, is very nearly perpendicular ' 

 to that, \V^hich nature, it seems, has so remarkably 

 indicated, from the manner in which forest trees 

 are disposed to extend their vegetation. 



Every person who has resided in the country 

 must have observed, that on the south-easterly 

 slopes or sides of hills, embankments, ponds, rivers, 

 streams, buildings, and close fences, vegetation 

 commences sooner in the spvlng and is more active- 

 ly kept up during the season, tlian in any of the 

 other exposures. 



But there is another '•^ause, besides the iiiore di- 

 rect effect of the solav heat, which powerfully aids' 

 vegetation, in such positions,— the protection af- 

 forded by the various artificial and natural barriers 

 that have been named, against the cold and bligfiti. 

 ing north west winds, which have such a deleterious 

 etTect on all kinds of plants, as well as renderino- 

 our winters so terrifically rigorous, our springs so 

 backward, our autumns so premature, and so many 

 days, of even our summers too c^ld for the complete 

 fructifi(;ation and maturity of nearly all the vege- 

 table productions, which are objects of attention" to 

 the farmer and horticulturist. The vast regions of 

 perpetual ice and snow, which extend from the pole 

 towards the borders of the United States, with the 

 mighty range of the Rocky mountains, towering 

 into the heights of uninterrupted congelation, and 

 the lateness of the period when die ice and snow 

 disappear from the great lakes, and immense for- 

 rests, reaching within even our own bounds, have ft 

 direct and powerful tendency to render the north- 

 western wind, the most prevalent, at least, through- 



