NEW METHOD OF REAIUNG OAK. 



239 



producing oak. As I had formed an opinion be- 

 fore this period, that failures of oak plantations pro- 

 ceeded, in general, rather from the badness of the 

 culture than the soil, I now determined to prove 

 the truth or falsehood of my surmises by an experi- 

 ment. In the month of January, I trenched, within 

 this plantation, four patches or beds, each three feet 

 long by two feet broad. Two of the beds were 

 limed, the others received no kind of manure. 1 

 then procured some acorns, as well as some seedling 

 oaks, from a nursery in Aberdeen. Two of the beds, 

 one limed and one unlimed, I planted with acorns ; 

 the other two, one of which was likewise limed and 

 one unlimed, I planted with seedling oaks. This 

 experiment was calculated to decide two things 

 the effects of liming, and the comparative merits 

 of transplanting, or of raising immediately from 

 the acorn. At the end of the first summer, the 

 transplanted oaks had made, as usual, very little 

 progress, either in the limed or unlimed bed, but 

 the former seemed to be in a healthier condition 

 than the latter. The seedlings raised from the 

 acorns were in both cases very fine plants ; but in 

 them the good effects of the lime were abundantly 

 evident, those in the limed bed being stouter, as well 

 as taller, than those in the other. Next summer the 



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