Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1875-07-30

measured 81 inches feet from the ground,
and is IS feet high. The lhornless locust is
the best for forest and the thorny variety
for hedges.
THE CHESTNUT.
A beautiful Tree and favorito with near
ly every one. A lot planted in Mount
Pleasant, Ia, eleven years ago, are now
making better return than the same num-
Der of acres in orchard. At Desmoines
chestnut trees four years old from the seed
have borne fruit. They should be set out
1000 TO the acre, and gradually thinned as
they increase in size TO 800 to the acre.
They will then be twelve feet apart. A
grove of chestnuts may be cut down at
twelve or fifteen years of age, and in twelve
years IL will be ready for another cutting.
The sprouts grow more rapidly than the
origin tree. The stumps should he cut
low and covered with thin layer of earth.
Side hills and rocky lands are best Tor
chestnut cultivation. The great difficulty
in growing this tree is to get it started prop
erly. Care must be taken TO keep the seed
from rotting or molding. The seed should
be kept during the winter in sand damp
ened and placed in cool cellar. In the
spring plant the chestnuts in rows three
feet apart, and drop the nuts, like potatoes,
six inches apart covering them with only
half an inch of soil. In the fall before
frost, cover the young plants with a litter
of straw six inches deep. They should be
transplanted when one year old. This tree
has always been considered hard to raise,
but it has been because it was not under
stood. Treated in the way have describ-
ed, twelve chestnuts will raise eleven trees.
BOX ELDER.
This tree is considered Western pro-
duction, but it will grow in almost any
State if properly treated. 1t is a beautiful
specimen of forest growth, and 10 my eye
the handsomest shade tree in existence. 1t
will grow fifty feet high, and If planted
thic ky be straight. About half the seeds
are false, and not over three in ten will
germinate, hence it must be sown very
thickly. Sow in the fall in shallow fur
rows and cover only one and half inches
deep with earth. The young plants must
be protected during the fall and winter
with a covering of straw. Plant them out
in the spring four feet apart, and they will
grow the first year ten TO sixteC inches. l
have seen a nursery two years old six feet
high, and the plants one inch in diameter.
Box elders, eleven years old, measured
thirty inc hes in circumference, aud were
thirty feet high.
BIRCH.
OF this tree there are two kinds-the
white or European birch and the American
canoe birch. The latter is connected with
the legends of our Indians, and is emphat-
ically tree of romance and poetry. The
brchen rod, too, has had much to do with
our public schools, and most of our great
men have been soundly thrashed with 1t
when boys. Both European and American
birch grow 10 large size in northern lati-
tudes. When planted thickly the young
birch grows up very straight and graceful.
Who of us when farmer boys have not cut
a birchen rod for our line and with it raised
the spec killed. beauties from their native
stream? Birch makes excellent fuel and is
valuable for ca bnet work. In northern
Michigan the canoe birch grows to a height
of seventy feet. Its bark is white and
highly ornamental. Seed can always be
obtained in Wisconsin. The seed-bed
should be light, sandy loan, and the seed
should be covered but lightly and well
sheltered from the sun until the plants are
two or three inches high.
HICKORY.
This emblematic tree of America and
the representa- tive of the character of one
of our greatest men will always be a favor
lite with our people, not only on account of
its history but its valuable nut bearing
quail tiles and its wood. The shellbark is
the best for planting, either for wood or
fruit If planted for nuts it should be kept
in the nursery until two or three years old,
and then transplaned. To make it bear
early, dig under and cut the lap-root as
close to the surface as possible. For tim
Der and rapid growth in transplanting dig
the holes deep and see the tap root is put
in perfectly straight. The nuts should be
dropped four feet apart, each way, and if
planted in ground where the trees are to
remain the plants should be thinned so as
to keep the branches from touching.
THE OAK.
The most valuable of all trees. 1t can
readily be raised from the seed, which
should be gathered in the fall, after the
acorns drop. The best month to gather
seed is October, and it should be planted
at once, or kept in cool, moist condition
until spring. The plants should be set on.
about eight feet apart, and between the
rows some upright growing tree can be
planted as nurses for the oak. These lat
ter should be cut away whenever it is nee
essary to make room for the oak. Burr
oak and chestnut oak are best for fuel and
red oak the best for rails.
THE COTTONWOOD.
This wonderful tree commends itself 10
all Western beginners on account of its
rapid growth and easy culture. 1t will
grow almost anywhere, and never dies. 1t
has held its own in the West against fire,
and even defies the axe of the woodman.
| If one is cut down, another springs up
from the stump. 1 have often wondered
why this tree, so tenacious Of life aud east
| ly grown, has not been planted in the East.
| 1t would grow, l believe, in aim ost any Of
the Eastern States, and as a shade tree for
cattle is unsurpassed. The young cuttings
are readily obtained from Western nur-
serymen and cost but triAe. The cotton
wood furnishes better shelter and fuel in
shorter time than any other tree in Amer
lea. There are cotlonwoods growing near
| Omaha thirteen years old that measure %
| inches in diameter and 40 feet high. a Mr..
Allan recently told me he had seen several
acres Of cnttonwoods which grew seven
feet in one year from the cuttings. As
write look out upon a cottonwood that
/ NINA n,InnInd 600 I,nn, Il,inl Il.n.,