1867. 



NEW ENGLAND FAEMER. 



283 



see no reason why a choice article of butter 

 may not be made. And it is not only a matter 

 of taste, but of pecuniary interest to every 

 farmer to make the very best butter, for he 

 will always find a ready and remunerating 

 market for it. * 



Tyngshoro\ Mass., Jan. 30, 1867. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 TREES MOST FIT FOR PLANTING, 



TO TAKE THE PLACE OF THE LOST FORESTS. 



The most valuable tree, all things consid- 

 ered, for this and almost every other purpose, 

 is the rock maple. It is native to our climate ; 

 it is easily found and safely transplanted. It 

 is a clean and graceful shade tree, very beau 

 tiful at all periods of its life ; it is greatly and 

 deservedly prized for the delicious syrup and 

 sugar made from its juice ; and it is of the 

 highest value for its wood, as a material for 

 the arts and for fuel. 



This is the best season for transplanting it. 

 On the edges, and in the openings of all the 

 maple forests, vast numbers of the young plants 

 may be found. Those of a size and shape 

 suitable for planting where they are to remain, 

 may not so easily be found ; but a itiw can be 

 found. For this purpose, small trees, not over 

 twelve feet high, should be selected, and those 

 are much to be preferred which are found 

 growing on the outskirts of the wood, where 

 they shall have been, for some years, freely 

 exposed to the sun and wind. 



A person looking forward to extensive plan- 

 tations, and taking into view the wants of his 

 friends and neighbors, will do well to remove 

 a very large number of plants, two or three 

 years old, to nursery rows, where they may 

 gradually become hardened to abundant light 

 and air. Many of the young trees in the" 

 nursery may die; and, of those which survive, 

 only the most sightly and promising should be 

 chosen for permanent planting. The best soil 

 for the maple is a moist soil, with a clayey 

 bottom, or one in which clay is a considerable 

 ingredient. But it will grow on any soil. 



Let any one who wants to see what a beau- 

 tiful thing a young rock maple is, from earliest 

 youth to the beginning of maturity, go out of 

 Boston over the Western Avenue, any time from 

 May to November, take the road to Brookline, 

 and, on it, the first turn to the right, through 

 Appleton Place, and, across the bridge, through 

 Longwood to St. John"'s Church. He will need 

 no words to recommend it. Any one who 

 wants to see what a magnificent shade tree it 

 becomes in its maturity, may drive from Bol- 

 ton, over the hill, by what was formerly Samp- 

 son Wilder's, afterwards Stephen Higginton's, 

 —now Mr. Forbush's — to the Old Common in 

 Lancaster. On the hill, he will see a row a 

 mile long of these grand old rock maples. 

 While young, it is a singularly attractive, 

 delicate, shapely tree. As it grows older, it 

 shoots up and expands nobly and loftily. 



In its maturity, its broad arms extend hori- 

 zontally, filling and satisfying the eye, and 

 giving great depth of shade. At every age, 

 the large, broad, full, rich leaf is very beauti- 

 ful at all seasons, and, in autunm, its bound- 

 less varieties of the richest colors, all the yel- 

 lows and all the reds, render it for many weeks 

 the most resplendent ornament of the forests. 

 No flower garden can vie with it. 



Consider what a substitute a row of these 

 trees along a farmer's field or a great highway, 

 would be for trees that have been ruthlessly 

 or carelessly or ignorantly destroyed. What 

 a magnificent sight, from the centre of the vil- 

 lage, will be a grove, say rather an orchard, of 

 sugar maples, growing on the lower slope of a 

 hill — a situation in which it is always likely to 

 thrive. 



For several years past maple sugar has 

 been, in Boston market, more valuable than 

 Havana or New Orleans, — for syrup it is 

 vastly superior. An economical husbandman 

 may soon substitute it for every variety of 

 imported sugar, and gain by the substitu- 

 tion. All the stages of the preparation take 

 place at a season of comparative leisure, when 

 there is little else to be done on the farm. 



Every one who is desirous that his great 

 grandchildren shall, in their old age, enjoy the 

 luxury of a wood fire, — and it is fiir the greatest 

 luxury for the outer man, and not for the outer 

 man alone, that is left, — must plant some 

 acres with maples. No wood, except hickory, 

 makes a pleasanter fire than old rock maple. 

 But those grandchildren must be very rich or 

 they will be unwilling to afford themselves 

 any thing but the smaller limbs and the spray 

 for fuel. The trunk and the larger branches 

 and the root will -be altogether too precious. 

 As curled maple, shaded mable,. landscape, 

 clouded, and bird's-eye maple, there is no na- 

 tive wood which furnishes so fine a material 

 for tables, chairs, bedsteads, wardrobes, book- 

 cases, picture-frames, and almost every other 

 kind of furniture ; and few are so valuable for 

 lasts, and a great variety of wooden ware. 



Several other native maples are handsome 

 and valuable trees. The white or red maple, 

 remarkable for the silver color of the under 

 surface of the finely cut leaves, is a rapid 

 grower and a broad-headed, magnificent tree. 

 The red maple nearly resembling the rock in 

 the character of its wood, is well known for 

 its fine autumn-colors, everywhere in New Eng- 

 land. The ]\Ioose Wood is a graceful little tree, 

 and the Mountain INIaple is a pretty shrub. 

 The Norway maple, a hardy species from the 

 north of Europe, stands the sea breeze and the 

 coldest winter better than any other tree of 

 the family. It is admirably well suited to be 

 planted in exposed situations along the New 

 England coast. The Great Maple of Europe, 

 commonly called Sycamore in England, is a no- 

 ble tree, and grows to a great height, often 

 reaching one hundred feet. It is hardy in this 

 climate, and grows very rapidly. The Field 



