238 WOODY PLANTS OF MASSACHUSETTS. 
the hand. By rubbing they are then made clear of the wool. 
Mr. Cobbett, who raised many plants from seed, soaked it in 
lukewarm water for forty-eight hours. He then mixed it with 
finely sifted earth, ten gallons of earth to one of seed; put the 
mixture upon the smooth, bare ground; “turned and remixed 
the heap every day for four or five days, keeping it covered 
with a mat whenever the turning and mixing were not going 
on; and as soon as a root began to appear here and there, sow- 
ed the seeds upon a bed of sifted earth, mixed with the sifted 
mould, just as they came out of the heap.” No other covering 
was given ; they were carefully watered and kept shaded, and in 
about a week germinated and showed their seed-leaves. ‘This 
was in April. The plants were gradually inured to the sun- 
shine, and in October their wood was ripe. In the succeeding 
summer they were fit to transplant into nursery lines.* 
General H. A. 8. Dearborn, so well known for the skill and 
success with which he has cultivated forest trees, gives, in the 
New England Farmer, Vol. V, p. 193, valuable directions for 
raising buttonwoods. He says the balls should not be gathered 
before the fall of the leaves, or, still better, not till March. Ie 
sowed the seeds in the spring, broad-cast, very thick, in a rich 
seed-bed of fine, light, carefully prepared mould. They were 
raked in and covered, and the ground was left smooth and 
level. When the plants first appear, they are very tender, and 
must therefore be screened from the heat of the sun for several 
months, by mats or by brush-wood thrown over poles resting 
on crotched stakes, two or three feet from the ground. He has 
usually transplanted them, when a year old, into a nurscry, 
placing them a foot apart, in rows three feet asunder. ‘The 
seed-bed should be kept clear of weeds, and the ground in the 
nursery between the rows, dug over every spring, and often 
hoed and raked.” When three or four years old, the plants 
may be removed, and set wherever they are wanted for shade, 
ornament, or fuel. 
* Woodlands, as quoted by Loudon. 
