Would you believe this statement by William Cobbett (1762-1835), author of The Woodlands, Rural Rides and other writings dealing with rural matters? It runs thus: "If you be curious and have a mind to see a tree in embryo, take an ash seed, put it in a little water lukewarm, and there let it remain for three or four days. Take it out; take a sharp knife, split the seed long-ways down the middle, and there you will see, standing as upright as a dart, an ash tree, with leaves, trunk and stem; that is to say the head of the root; and all this you will see with the naked eye, as clearly as you ever saw an ash tree growing in a field or meadow." One man tried to follow Cobbett - John Stewart Collis, author of The Worm Forgives the Plough, a man who had worked with trees for years and has been described as "the poet among modern ecologists". Collis writes: "Being extremely eager to see this , I tried the experiment carefully. But I did not see it. I often tried but I never saw the little tree. Using a razor blade I slit the casket that holds the kernel, according to instructions and I did find something. I found a very neat miniature spade. It was exceedingly attractive and surprising to look at, but it was not a tree."
Is Collis now, too, having us on? No, probably not, for he thinks Cobbett may have given the wrong tree, and also Collis admits that "Experiments don't work for me." Of course, Cobbett may have been appealing only to the imagination. There is one tree, however, which the observer can watch turn from seed to tree-form in two or three days. This is the pinus pinea, or stone pine. It is a nut, about three-quarters of an inch to an inch long, and about a quarter-inch in breadth. When first taken from the cone - very big - it is covered in purple dust. Don't plant it into soil; just lay it on top of the pot and press lightly into the soil. With a bit of warmth and a bit of luck, the nut will open length-wise, and a green shoot will dive into the soil. That's the root and trunk of the tree. The nut, in a day or two will be lifted into the air, the shell will split and fall, and you will have an upright piece of greenery, the top encased in an almost transparent, tight envelope. This splits and out spread, quickly, some 12 unadorned, straight, green stalks - the branches to be. It's your tree. Works every time. Forget the ash.