Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1874-07-16
Notes on Forest Trees.

After the farm ana garden SEEDS are
ali in the earth, it may be well to look
| about and see if there are not some other
matters which are likely to be neglected
/ through oversight or want Of the requi-
! site knowledge. There are few things
which add more to the appearance or
/ value of a farm than a goOdly supply of
/ ornamental and useful trees; and this is
! especially true in scantily-woOded re
/ gions, whether upon the prairie or in
| tracts long settled and denuded Of their
! original forests. We believe that the
/ scarcity of trees in either instance is
owing in a great measure to the want Of
/ practical information in regard to raising
! forest trees from seed. Many persons
| suppose that all our native trees ripen
! their seeds in autumn, and that to talk
/ OF raising seedlings at this season Is not
/ well timed. But in this they err, because
/ the seeds Of some of our most valuable
/ species Of indigenous trees ripen, even in
/ the Northern States, between the first
! and the middle Of June, and these must
! be sOWn soon after or they will fail to
/ terminate The silver and red maple
and American weeping elm are we'll
! known examples of this fact; and as we
| write, the seeds are cOlOring and show
! ing early maturity. If gathered as soon
! as ripe and sOWn under a thin layer Of
earth they will produce plants two or
/ three feet high before the seeds Of close
/ ly-allied species will be ripe in the fall.
| a few weeks delay in attending to this
/ very tri1iing matter Of gathering the
/ above named seeds at the proper time
will cause a loss Of one year in the
growth OF the trees; and il is to these
little delays that we may charge the
barrenness, in appearance at least, of
many 4 country home.
The first frOsts of autumn loosen the
seeds of the sugar maple, and the various
exotic species which are so extensively
( planted in the streets of many of our cit
| les and villages. The seeds Of all these
| trees, as well as those Of the ash, linden,
! tulip tree or whiteWood, liquid amber,
and similar kinds, both indigenous and
exotic, should be preserved in and dur
ing winter and sOwn in early spring.
There are several good reasons for pre-
| serving seeds OF hardy trees in sand
| through winter, instead of sowing them
in the fall, as would seem to be more in
! harmony with nature the most impOr-
tant of which are: 1. Protection against
vermin Of various kinds, which subsist
for a portion of the year upon these
seeds. 2 if the seeds are sown in
the open, unprotected fields they are
subjected to a greater degree of cold and
more frequent changes of temperature
than where they fall in the forest and are
there covered with leaves. 3. The soil
becomes very compact over and about
! the seeds during the winter and spring,
| thereby retarding, if not frequently pre-
venting, the growth of the young, tender
plants. That the artificial processes
practiced by our nurserymen and others
are far superior to the strictly natural
one is readily proved by the results; for
not one seed in a thousand which fall
from the parent tree in the forest grows,
while the reverse of this is true when art
steps in to aid and protect.
We call especial attention to this
point, because many writers upon arbOr
culture are very particular to advise
taking nature" as guide in raising all
kinds of trees from seed, which may, IN
the abstract, be well enough; but in gen
| eral practice man might as well wait
for nature to cover him with suit OF
brOadcloth as to provide him with choice
fruits or trees through any strictly nat
ural process. The war OF races, as eX-
hibited among both plants and animals, is
i'll suited to supply the wants OF civilized
man; hence the employment OF art to
thwart here, and encourage there, in
order to produce the desired results.
The hard-shell nuts, like the black wal
nut. butternut and hickory, may be plant
ed as soon as they fall in autumn, where
the trees are to grow, but the safest plan
is to put them in boxes Of soil or sand
and set out of doors until planting time
the following spring. The proper cOndi-
lions for preserving their vitality unim-
paired are a low temperature and moist
ure sufficient to prevent shriveling. The
+ SOft-Shell nuts, such as acOrnS, beeChnutS
and chestnuts, are far more difficult to
\ preserve than those above named: still,
/ if gathered as soon as they are thorough
( " mature, dried for a day or two, and
! then packed in boxes or barrels of pure,
moist sand, they may be kept sound until
/ the following spring. The main thing TO
| be observed is to place the vessels CON
/ tanning these nuts in as cool a position as
( possible, as for instance, on the north
! side of some building, banking up the
/ boxes or barrels at the same time win
earth. We have frequently kept the
/ common chestnut in this manner, ana
/ also buried in a dry bank IN the open
! ground But none of the sOtt-sneu nuts
! will Withstand any considerable amount
| of drying, although a few weeks expo
sure to the atmosphere of a room with
/ out fire will not do them any material IN
/ jury.
There is still another class OF tree
seeds very different in character from
/ either Of the above, those with norm
/ like covering, as seen in the common
locust and three-thorned acacia The
vitality of most of the seeds of this kind
remains unimpaired under ordinary cir
cumstances for many years; hence very
little attention is paid to conditions be-
yond that of keeping them dry. Their
! oily nature prevents shriveling, but the
/ shell or horn-like envelope becomes very
hard with age and impervious to moist
ure under the conditions in which they
are usually placed in the soil; hence
they fail to terminate, although really
sound, and their vitality very slightly
| impaired. To soften or open the pores