Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1882-03-17
Timber Tree; from Seeds.

ne value OF TIMBER trees, planted III
belts and in artificial forests, Is be-
coming better understood rs the country
is gradually denulcd of its natural
growth. \ cheek is given b. failures
in obtaining the young trees from seed,
or by the expense Necessary in purchaS-
ing large numbers of seedlings. Under
proper management, however, many
will be- able To make their own planttt-
tlOnS At Il moderate cost, and 4 few >Ig
gestionS under this head may therefore
prove useful To those who have the
time to devote, and the determination
TO succeed in what they undertake..
There are few causes of common
failure which should be pointed out One
is in poor seeds, or those which have
become too dry to terminate. Another
Is an insufficient preparation Of the soil.
or in burying the seeds too deep, or in
not shading the more delicate of the
young plants. Again, when planters
gather their own seed. they do not al
ways secure i: AT the right period. AT
the present time in autumn. when q
large number of forest trees are
maturing their seeds. some particular
hints on this point may save our
younger readers from failure in their
experiments.
In planting such large ileshy seeds
rs chestnutS, acorns, hOrScchestIutS
and beechnuS. the most common cause
of want of success, is allowing them TO
get too dry. AS soon as they ripen and
fall. therefore which is usually about
the middle of autumn or soon after,
they should be gathered and kept
slightly moist and fresh till they ger
inmate. They might be planted at once.
and the surface of the ground protected
from drying winds by mess or ever
green branches were it not for mice,
which show much skill in finding cv-
erything of the kind. A slight cover
inr of straw is still more certain to at
tract them. The safest way, therefore,
is to pack them in damp sand or slight
ly damp moss, and place them in cold
cellar or other cool place till early
spring planting. AS they sprout very
e:srly they need not be planted deep;
they will have moisture enough until
they have thrown down their roots into
the soil. if buried with only an inch of
earth. The hickory and walnut are to
be treated similarly, except that some
what more care is necessary to prevent
drying, as the thick shells serve rs par
tial protection. But after the exterior
covering of either chcstnuts or walnuts
have dried so long that they become
hard and imperyiouS to moisture from
without, it will be useless to plant
them.
The NAPLES are of two classes those
which ripcn their seed the first of sum-
mer. like the red and the silver naples.
and those which do not ripen till Octo-
Der, as the black and the sugar maple.
The former will supply well-matured
seeds three weeks after the leaves have
expanded, and as they soon lose the
power of terminating. they should be
planted at once in finely pulverized
enough. half an inch would be better
and if hot, dry weather follows, they
should be partially shaded from the
suns rays. But seeds of the sugar ma
pie. maturing in October. may be kept
in damp sand in cool place and plant
ed early in spring; or, if properly pro-
tected as aforementioned for nuts,
they may be planted in autumn.
Seeds of the common locust and the
honey locust will keep several years if
quite dry. The common locust seeds
require scalding to make them ger
inmate. Put . quantity in pint or
quart basin. pour on boiling water and
let it cool. In 4 few hours part will
be found swollen to double size. Pick
these out and plant them at once an
inch deep and they will grow. Repeat
the process SUCCESSFULLY ON the re-
ed. Without this scalding process. the
seeds will remain for years unchanged
in the soil. The honey locust does not
require this treatment.
The poplars and willows grow freely
from cuttings, and are rarely raised
from seed.
COnifers require more skillful man-
agement than deciduous trees. and it is
commonly cheaper to buy the young
trees, or seedlings, of nurserymen. A
few suggestions are, however, offered
to those who would attempt the expert
ment. The larch is perhaps the easiest
to raise. but the seeds should be fresh
and good, as they will not keep year.
The cones of the white pine drop their
seeds about the first of October, and
they must be gathered in time to secure
them. The Norway spruce (now so
largely grown of bearing size) natures
its cones late in November, and they
must be saved before the seeds fall out
The same may be said of the native
black spruce. The seeds of conifers
often require q month to terminate and
come up. They must have the soil
finely and thinly sifted over them. and
the young plants always require more
or less shading.
The seeds Of most evergreens being
quite small, a great number of plants
may be raised from small quantity, if
the seeds are good and fresh, and most
of them grow. A pound of seed of the
| white pine contains 10000; of the
Scotch pine, $4,000: of the Norway
spruce, $4,000; of the hemlock, 100, 900;
of the European lareh. 10000 to 1000.
and of the American arbor vit9, 800, 900.
1t will usually be much cheaper to buy
evergreen seeds than to collect them.
but the latter mode will be sure to Sc
cure them fresh. Many other seeds of
trees may be gathered advantageously
by those who desire to make planta-
tons, and in this way fine collections
of young trees are obtained at small ex-
penditure. Country Gentleman.