THE BUBAL MEW-YOBSCEB, 
gether. Where there is no market for choked 
cocoons, hand reeling must be resorted to. At 
Fig. 150 is shown the old Piedmontese reel. 
The illustration will need but little explana¬ 
tion. The strands coming from the basin con¬ 
taining the cocoons, after being twisted several 
times at c, in order to round and smooth the 
threads by friction, are passed over the guides 
b b, which are inserted in the traversing bar a. 
To this bar the lateral movement which pre¬ 
vents adhesion at c, is imparted by a pin 
connected with the outer circumference of 
the cog-wheel d. This is connected at e 
with the cog revolving with the shaft of the 
reel. At Fig. 141) the Improved Lombardy 
hand-reel is represented. At a is a basin hold¬ 
ing water in which the cocoons are boiled: b, 
tin tray; h h, glass eyes, or wire holders, 
through which the threads pass to pulleys k 
7c; at 11 are porcelain tubes; v n is a grooved 
wheel which distributes the thread to the reel 
“ on the cross,” so that it may be easily un¬ 
wound; o is the reel, and p the crank for turn¬ 
ing it. The above descriptions and directions 
are greatly condensed from Prof. Riley’s pam¬ 
phlets, which wc have freely consulted. 
FORESTRY-NO. 12. 
DR. JOHN A. WARDER. 
Nurse Plants in Forestry-What are they? 
Their utility. What kinds to use—Trees 
or Shrubsl Suggestions as to their utility 
and how to employ them. Sumac as a 
Nurse. Willow Nurse Trees for Walnuts, 
Oaks and Maples. 
In some of the previous papers of this series, 
reference has incidentally been made to nurses 
or nurse-plants in forestry, and as this is a 
very important subject, which has as yet 
attracted very little attention among our 
tree-planters, it is now introduced to a place 
in this series, even at the risk of some repeti¬ 
tion of what has already been said or of what 
may in the future have to be written again. 
Nurses are surplus trees or sk rul is introduced 
into the plantation for a temporary purpose, 
for the occupancy of the ground, to shelter 
and protect the permanent plants that are 
designed to constitute the future forest, and 
to aid in forming them into well shaped trees, 
as well as for their use as subsidiary products. 
These may be trees, shrubs or bushes, what¬ 
ever can be most easily and cheaply obtained, 
and whatever will best subserve the purpose 
in view, but among them there is room for 
exercising a choice. The plants selected 
should not so greatly exceed in size and vigor 
the permanent trees as to endanger the thrifty 
growth of the latter, nor should any be chosen 
as nurses that are known to be uucongenial 
to the plants designed for the future forest. 
These are important considerations that will 
inquire a knowledge of the characters of each, 
and as this may not always be possessed by the 
tree-planter, he will be required to exercise 
constant watchfulness and observation of their 
behavior. 
In many cases where the first cost of the 
young trees is quite small, the nurse plants 
may consist of supernumeraries of the species 
planted, aud in our American experiments this 
plan has been commonly adopted, Whatever 
the trees used, they are set very thickly over 
the ground, as will have been noticed by the 
readers, some of whom may have thought the 
recommendation to plant a tree every four 
feet, or even more closely, was a waste of good 
material. It is not so, but a gain rather than 
a loss always follows from the close setting of 
the trees. The first cost of most of the stocks 
planted is a small matter compared to the 
labor of cultivation, to say nothing of the 
improved shape of the young trees, and the 
economy that follows in the matter of cultiva¬ 
tion, pruning and training those that are 
allowed space to branch out laterally. No 
greater mistake could have been made than 
that committed by the early planters, iu plant¬ 
ing trees wide apart, although this was en¬ 
couraged by the e rly legislation of Congress, 
when providing for plantations on the public 
domain. With many species, too, it has 
proved to be a false economy on tne part of 
the planter to lay out his plantation with wide 
rows, under the delusive idea that he could 
grow among the trees a half crop of other 
plants to pay him for the labor of cultivating 
his trees. For the first year he may reap his 
reward; in some cases, perhaps, also for the 
second year, but menu while when so widely 
planted the trees suffer from branching, and 
by leaning out on either hand for the light 
and air. It is true that in some cases, with 
very strong aud rapid-growing species, like 
the Catalpa speciosa and the Ailauthus glan- 
dulosa, tail-growing kinds of Indian corn in 
the alternate rows might supply the need of 
the supernumerary trees, but even there the 
trouble would come in future years, especially 
with catalpas, walnuts, and other species 
which are prone to spread, as they would re¬ 
quire labor to remove the lateral branches by 
trimming, which natural causes in a thickly 
set plantation would prevent or subsequently 
remove with no expense to the owner, so that, 
even considered in the light of nurse plants, 
the introduction of Indian corn cannot be 
recommended. Some of the largest and most 
successful plantations which have yet been 
made in this couutry are composed of soli! 
blocks all of tic' same species, thickly planted, 
so as to use trees of the same kind as the 
nurses—to be subordinated either by natural 
causes or artificially, as the space is needed by 
those which are selected for the permanent 
wood. 
Shrubs may be utilized as nurses if set in al¬ 
ternate rows and cultivated with the trees. 
In F.urope, where small wood is brought into 
requisition for many purposes, these are often 
a source of profit, and are used as wattles for 
temporary fences, as osiers, hoops, hurdles, 
and the hazels or filberts for their nuts; but 
with the rapid growth made by the species 
usually planted by us, these nut plants would 
be smothered by the trees among which they 
were set, before they had reached a bearing 
age and size. 
The sumacs would promise a. valuable return 
if thus used, wherever labor could be con¬ 
trolled for the cutting and preparation of the 
crop of herbage. The preparation of this ma¬ 
terial, so useful now for tanning, has been 
overlooked by our people, mainly because of 
the manual labor required in the harvest, aud 
we have not felt willing to compete with the 
cheap labor of Europe, to which we contribute 
largely for this material* In some extensive 
forestry operations begun a few years ago in 
Virginia by the Messrs. Laudretb (seedsmen) of 
Philadelphia, large numbers of the largo Elm¬ 
leaved Sumac (Rhus coriaria), the favorite 
sumac of Southern Europe, were planted out 
for the purpose of supplying our markets. 
The native species might well be substituted 
if used as nurses, and several crops could be 
secured before the trees would overpower 
them. 
Many of the smaller growing Osier Willows 
might Vie planted in the same way, with pros¬ 
pect of yielding good returns, subject, how¬ 
ever, to the same limitations us to labor re¬ 
quired in their treatment, They may all be 
grown from cuttings, that should be planted 
at the same time as the trees; the latter being 
put into rows eight feet apart, eould have a 
double row of the willows set between them. 
Eighteen inches wide would be sufficient for 
the willows, with bi aces of three feet three 
inches on either side between them and the 
permanent trees. This plan would be particu¬ 
larly applicable to plantations of some of our 
oaks and hickories which are unusually slow 
in their growth during their first years. The 
favorite Basket Willow (Salix viminalis) will 
yield a paying crop in the second year from 
planting the cuttings.t 
An experiment has been made in a small 
way by using the White Willow (Salix alba, 
of Europe, as a nurse to the Sugar Maple, aud 
to certain oaks, the object being to save plants 
of the more valuable stock by filling up with 
willow cuttings to shade the ground, thus 
diminishing the expense of planting and cul¬ 
tivation, and at the same time to force the 
upward growth of the oaks and to pre-vent 
their branching. The oaks were planted eight 
feet apart each way, with alternating willow 
cuttings iu the rows, aud with alternating 
rows of willows set four feet apart. After 
the second Rummer it became necessary to 
slash off some of the interfering branches 
from the willows; but the ground was already 
so shaded as to require no other culture, and 
meanwhile the oaks, chiefly the Bur Oak (Quer- 
cus macrocarpa) and the Swamp W hite Oak 
(Quercus bicolor), have made satisfactory pro¬ 
gress, and have reached a greater hight than 
those of the adjoiniug block planted with the 
same stock, set four feet apurt, and continu¬ 
ously cultivated, so as to keep the ground loose 
and clean. The White Willow is not recom¬ 
mended for this purpose, however, as its 
growth is so vigorous that its size iu a few 
years would be too great. Unless care lie 
taken to subordinate these nurses, they would 
soon be likely to overwhelm the more valuable 
plants, and then they might require consider¬ 
able labor to subdue them by successive aud 
partial slashing or chopping in the Summer, 
and while yet too small for any very import¬ 
ant economical application. So soon as the 
permanent trees had reached sufficient size to 
shade the ground, little trouble would be ex¬ 
perienced by the sprouting of the willow 
stumps, and they would, when cut oil, furnish 
material for other plantations aud for wind¬ 
breaks always needed on the prairies. 
It should always be borne in mind that 
some trees are obnoxious to the healthful 
growth of some others, and perhaps this is 
nowhere more apparent than iu the case of 
broad-leafed trees and t.,ose with needle- 
♦The average value of the sumac Imported between 
1874 aud 1879, was $557,480 a year. 
tin the year 1871, willows and willow wares were 
Imparted to the value of $814,024. 
shaped leaves, commonly known as evergreens. 
The overshadowing by the former is destruc¬ 
tive of the latter, and though in the article on 
“ Grouping,” both natural and artificial com¬ 
mingling of some of these two so diverse 
classes was mentioned, successful forestry is 
based upon their separate planting, or if 
placed in the same sub divisi n of the forest, 
either for the effect of contrast or because of 
peculiar adaptation to the soils, each should 
Vie massed by itself as much as possible—ever¬ 
greens with evergreens, and deciduous trees 
with those of their own class; and in both 
cases those which are not obnoxious to one 
another. Thus conifers, even if having decid¬ 
uous foliage, may be mingled; the larches are 
planted as nurse trees with the pines in Scot¬ 
land. and have been so utilized in this country 
to a limited extent, and the Bald Cyprus may 
be set with pines. They appear to be conge 
nial to one another and though the larches 
grow higher in a given time, they do not have 
spreading tops while young to overshadow the 
pines, nor do they produce a dense shade from 
broad lei ves, hence they may make valuable 
nurse tree;, and if necessary to remove them 
in thirty or forty years, they will command a 
good price as spars for telegraph poles. 
A somewhat remarkable use of evergreens 
as nurses to oaks was s en in Eastern Massa¬ 
chusetts ; not far fiom the coast on an ex 
posed bill side the acorns had beeu planted in 
rows rather wide apart. The proprietor, think¬ 
ing they needed some protection, planted a 
Balsam Fir beside each tree as a nurse—the 
hardy evergreen was to shelter the more valu¬ 
able oak, and did so; both plants grew r well 
together. Before long the nurses began to 
trespass upon the oaks, when their limbs were 
slashed away as they interfered. Their shel¬ 
ter seemed to have exerted a good effect. The 
supernumerary trees, or nurses, ns you may 
choose to call them, need to be looked after 
lest they crowd and injure those which are to 
make the permanent forest. This is especially 
necessary if they be of free-growing species, 
such as many of the kinds commonly planted 
in this country, the Cotton-woods and White 
Willow, for instance; hence for the purpose of 
nurses we should rather select trees which are 
rather of the second class in respect to size. 
How ver, as already indicated iu referring to 
the willow as a nurse among the oaks, it has 
been found an easy matter to subordinate 
them by slashing from time to time in the 
Summer and allowing the foliage-laden brush 
to fall to the grouud, w here it contributes to 
the formation of humus aud helps to keep the 
soil loose, mellow aud moist, or in the most 
favorable forestal condition. 
Even the evergreens which have been used 
as nurses to other evergreens are to be treat¬ 
ed in the same way; when the thickly set trees 
have reached a hight of eight to twelve feet 
and make a dense thicket so as to endanger 
the sturdiness of the plants, instead of chop¬ 
ping them at the ground the stems are lopped 
off at the hight of four, five or six feet, by using 
a light ax or a bill-hook, leaving all below to 
shade the ground and for the important work 
of aiding in the destruction of the side limbs 
of the other trees which thus soon lose their 
lower branches by the processes of nature, and 
not only is this more cheaply, but it is also 
much better done thau by the laborious pro¬ 
cess of trimming. The lopped trees do not re¬ 
cover their upright habit of growth, but are 
soon overpowered by tho-e which are left, 
that now grow with renewed vigor, and 
while the beheaded trees continue to drag out 
a miserable existence, they are still doing a 
good work in aiding the perfecting of the 
shafts of their more favored fellows of the for¬ 
est, that go on growing taller and larger to 
produce the noble Hochwald and to make 
such shafts as are described by Milton in his 
Paradise Lost: 
+ » ♦ "The tallest pine 
Hewn on Norwegian hills, to he the mast 
Of some great, aminlral." ♦ * * 
We hear dilletante teachers talk about 
the value of the thinnings of the young 
trees in the woodlands, but the enlightened 
foresters of Germany are too jealous of the 
soil under their care in the forests to allow 
any part of the debris to be removed from 
the grouud where it has beeu produced; 
they claim it all for the melioration of the 
grow ing trees untiltlie period of the harvest 
is reached, when the grund result is gathered 
iu. For practical application of the principles 
involved in the treatment of this subject of 
forest nurses, the following suggestions re¬ 
specting nurse-plants, are made to our fellow' 
tree planters. 
Where the soil is adapted to the growth, of 
Black Walnut, instead of planting an entire 
block of tins species which is somewhat un¬ 
certain in its results, being fastidious, and at 
best requiring a long period to reach perfec 
tion, you are recommended to plant only 
every fifth row with nuts while the four in¬ 
termediate rows on either side may be set with 
any of the common kinds as nurses to the 
walnuts. These may be of Col ton-wood, Box- 
Elder Hackberry, White Maple, elms, Green 
Anti, White Willow, or whatever kinds may 
bo most easily obtained. Cultivate all alike, 
and let all grow together until the nurses be¬ 
gin to interfere with the walnuts, when one 
of the adjoining rows of nurse trees may be 
cut down. After awhile, as space is needed, 
cut the other next row so that the walnuts 
would have the space of sixteen feet with a 
double row of the nurse trees between every 
two rows of walnuts, where they might re¬ 
main until the success of well grown saw-logs 
of good length was secured, ami by that time 
the nurse trees would have reached their full 
development and value, aud would be ready 
for removal. 
In removing the first rows of nurse-trees, 
there will lie little prospect of remuneration, 
and, if still small, they may be left upon the 
ground to decay. Iu a country where fuel is 
scarce the stems may be used for stove wood 
or the poles may be needed for fencing and 
other economic uses, for which purpose they 
should be cut iu early Summer aud peeled, 
for if so treated, even the poplars and willows 
will have their value much enhanced. 
White Ash. Hard Maples, oaks, elms, hick¬ 
ories, chestnuts (on soils congenial to them), 
beeches, and any other desirable species the 
stock of which is high-priced or difficult to 
obtain, may all be economically grown by the 
aid of these cheap nurse-trees iu the rnanuer 
just recommended for the walnut. In a for¬ 
mer Number, that on ‘‘Grouping,” was de¬ 
tailed the plan of planting nuts and acorns it 
certain rows of common trees—say every 
third or fourth row—in a plantation already 
made, and allowing them to struggle along, 
maintaining a mere existence among the 
quasi nurse-trees, but ready to spring into 
vigorous growth when the first are cut away 
and thus to form a succession in the forest 
crop, It may be added here that so soon as 
the nut plants have become established, their 
more immediate future might bo secured by 
cutting away the nurses iu the row thus occu¬ 
pied, but this, though hastening their progress, 
will necessitate watchfulness on the part of 
the forester lest their voracious neighbors on 
either hand should crowd, aud draw them up 
prematurely, in which case those presuming 
nurses should be snubbed by severe slashing 
or by gradually and successively lopping 
them off, to make room for the valuable 
species. 
JERSEY CATTLE AT AUCTION. 
The past week has been a busy one at the 
American Institute building, this city, where 
the third annual special combination sale of 
Jerseys has been in progress. The sale began 
on Tuesday, with a fair attendance, and a 
liberal proportion of bidders. The best figure 
made on this day was by the heifer Nancy 
Lee 2d, 11,383, bought by Mr. F T. Walton of 
New York for the sum of $1,550. The tota 
sales for Tin sday were G3 head which brought 
an aggregate of §20,060, or an average of 
$318.41 per head. The second best sale of this 
day was of the three-year old cow Mahala 2d. 
8,820, which sold for $875. 
On the second day the attendance was larger 
aud the bidding more spirited. Tuesday’s 
highest sale was surpassed by Leah Darlington 
13,836, loss than a year old, which brought 
$1,800. The most interesting of Wednesday’s 
sales was that of Princess 2d. three years old, 
She was sired by Khedive, darn Princess, aud 
she was imported in 1870, from the herd of 
Mr. A. L*» Gallais, Rt. Brelades, Island of 
Jersey. The bidding soon ran her up to $3,000 
then by fifties and hundreds she reached 
the magiiificient sum of $4,800, when she was 
knocked down to Mr. S M. Rchoomaker, of 
Baltimore, Md. the price beiug the highest 
ever made by a Jersey cow. Princess 2d. is 
of a light fawn color; skin very yellow, large 
and perfectly formed udder aud prominent 
milk vein 1 *. We hope soon to be able to pre¬ 
sent a true portrait of this handsome beast to 
ho readers of the Rural, The next highest 
sales for the day were of the heifer Rally 
Waters 10,335 for $1,300, aud Anecdote, heifer, 
12,119 for $1,025, the total sales were 61 bead, 
which aggregated $27,435, or an average of 
$449,75 per head. 
On Thursday the sale of the Oxford Pax‘k 
herd took place, aud the prices were about the 
same as on Tuesday. The highest figure paid 
wus for the young cow Willy’s Chest nut 
which went to F. T. Walton at #910. A bull 
calf four days old, dam Marjoram IV, 12,819 
brought $530. Aggregate of this day’s sales 
of 61 head was >. 211,424; average $334,83. The 
sale closed Friday with 52 head bringiug a 
a otalof $38 855, an average of $761.86. 
There were 14 unregistered animals sold, 
which brought an average of #116, theC'.w 
Camelia. six years old, bringing $230, which 
was the highest price paid for an unregistered 
animal. Notwithstanding the reduced at¬ 
tendance of the last day, the ardor of bidding 
was not greatly dampened and many of the 
cattle brought high prices. Oxford. Kftt®. 
