410 TRANSACTIONS OF THE 



have been eaten by the wren, king bird, cat bird and otlier choice 

 friends, and they in turn by cats. I have likewise caused fires to 

 be lighted at night in my orclmrds and gardens, when a like 

 destruction of friends as well as enemies has taken place. I have 

 often heard farmers ^'ay that a cold winter destroys an immense 

 number of insects, and imagined such was the case until last 

 spring, when I examined tlie chrysalids of many insects that had 

 withstood, in exposed situations, the preceding intense winter 

 with the thermometer often many degress below zero, and inva- 

 riably found them full of liJ'e. From whence do they obtain the 

 source of heat necessary to preserve their temperature when thus 

 exposed ? Plants likewise, that were frozen to such an extent 

 that they broke off by the slightest touch, were uninjured. In 

 Siberia the ground becomes intensely frozen to the depth of the 

 remotest roots of trees, and remains so from seven to eight months, 

 and still they tlirive with unabated vigor in the summer follow- 

 ing. Still, I suppose a complete sfdidilication of the fluids would 

 overcome the latent heat and result in death. Pruning, after the 

 destruction of insects, is the next important operation, having for 

 its principal object the production of a hirge bole of perfect and 

 sound timber. . To accomplish this end you must prune the accu- 

 mulation of ligneous matter in the trunk. This is done by short- 

 ening and cutting back the limbs for five or six years. This sub- 

 stance has neither taste nor smell, and is identical in its chemical 

 properties whether it be from the willow or solid oak tree, and 

 constitutes a large portion of the gigantic productions of nature. 



President Pell observed that sometimes by Avind or otherwise, 

 valuable young fruit trees are broken off below the branches. I 

 have sawed off the tops of tliem, and with a very sharp knife cut 

 on four sides four inches in length. When this is done new bark 

 soon grows again I then inoculate a new top on the stump, and 

 get a new tree well worth the trouble mentioned. 



Dr. Peck of Brooklyn, mentiom-d the objection of many men to 

 plant seeds of rees, being the long time before they could gain 

 any advantages for themselves by it. But that we have in mod- 

 ern times the noble c(mduct of the Duke of Atholl, who has cov- 

 ered desolate lands with j)recious timber — particularly the larch, 

 and proving in a few years 1 1 be worth five thouzand dolhus an 

 acre. 



Solon Robinson adverted to tlie success of the good Deacon Lord 

 in growing tne^. lie took small ehn trees o. his shoulder on horse- 

 back, carried them home and srt ihtm out, and lived to see them 

 four feet in diameter and shadtxl fiom the heat of summer by their 



