The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1903-03-13

folks cannot quite make out |
how the tree is reproduced. In fact, in |
case OF many OF our trees the infior.
essence is inconspicuous, the flowers so
small that they are with difficulty seen
at all. Besides, as we know, sterile and
fertile flowers on different trees char
acteriZe certain species, SO that 1t is
really fact that some individual trees
never show fruit or seed at all. Ac-
cordingly, although everybody in the
world knows that the seed of the oak
is the acorn. there are people not a few
who think that oaks sometimes appear
without regard to any such germinal
antecedent For such people the earth
brings forth of herself vegetation after
its kind. Trees are a sort OF natural
efflorescence Of the soil. Different soils
produce different kinds Of trees. A
sandy soil I'm the north will push up
crop Of willows, thousands upon thou
sand of them; an abandoned sandfelG
in the south will put up a peculiar
species OF pine, the "old field pine" in
fact. In Pennsylvania a rocky hillside
will spring up thick with chestnuts; In
Iewa a loess ridge produces white oaks.
Everywhere where forest OF pine has
been cut away forthwith appears new
forest Of deciduous leaved trees.
Let us see what all this means. In
the first place, we may note that the
seeds Of some trees are extremely
small They are adapted to transpor-
tation by wind or water. Every spring,
for instance. along our northern streams
the air is filed with flying seeds OF
poplars and OF willows The seeds or
the pine, the maple, the birch, the elm,
are likewise so distributed. In time of
storm the winds will often carry such
seeds TO distances almost unlimited.
On the other hand. the seeds Of some
most common species are carried by
the birds and dropped to come up in
unexpected places. Such are the seeds
Of the barberry. red cedar and even OF
the oak, surprising to relate. y blue
y 80
OF a bur oak to a distance of three
miles, dropping the nuts all the way
along at various intervals. 1t is there
fore not difficult to see that even the
most surprising cases Of the upspring
ing of forests may yet be explained by
reference TO the ordinary sequence OF
seed and shoot. If one who passes
through pine forest will observe care
fully, he will often find small areas al
ready given to other sorts of trees, and
If he will look still more closely be Will
find often among the pines themselves
hundreds of little trees, not pines, tenn
porarily overshadowed and suppressed,
which wait only the removal OF the ex-
listing forest to spring up rapidly and
SO TO produce in a few years the re-
markable transformation so often not
ed. After a terrible sweep of fire in
the mountains Of the west the whole
mountain side is often blackened with
a ruin so complete that it would seem
as if no living thing could ever appear
in that locality again. But beneficent
nature sends relief. On the wings OF
the wind the seeds of the mountain asp
en- float, and in year or two the ruin
may be almost effaced, at least by asp
en- saplings. standing so thick some
times as to be utterly impenetrable
These form a nursing cover for young
forms Of other species, conifers among
the rest. and after long years the origi
nal forest may possibly resume its
sway. But every tree has sprung from
adventurous seeds.
The processes Of nature thus briefly
noticed are for our example. If W.
would plant trees, we cannot do better
than to observe how the thing is done
in nature and then do with precision
that which in the natural world is al
ways correct in principle, but Otter
quite haphazard in execution. We dis
cover first of all that we shall have
trees, fine ones. and precisely in thu
places where we wish them, If we sim
ply plant the seed and let time do thu
rest. In the case Of several sorts o
trees this is the very best possible pro
cedure All trees having a vertical O
tap root are so much harmed and Sc
back by the necessary pruning in trans
planting that seed in the place wher
the tree is wanted will usually far out
strip in few years the transplante'
specimen. The writer has on his prem
Uses two oaks planted sixteen year
ago, one as an acorn. the other
nursery grown specimen. The forme
is thirty-four feet high and six inche
thick at the ground, the latter twelv
feet high and three inches thick.
white oak set out thirty years ago !
only forty feet high and about seve
inches thick. For walnuts, oaks, hicL
cries. chestnuts, the only fortunat
method, or at least the surest method
IL TO plant the seeds where you wis
the trees. Would you learn how natur
plants such seeds? Visit the forests !
early autumn. and you may easily di'
cover. She throws her walnuts to tn
ground with the falling leaves. Thes
cover the seeds. but by no means deeI
ly. The soft husks rot away. and til
frosts of winter freeze the hard nut
IL. Al limo