On the Planting of Forest- Trees. 279 



those, as well as other coniferous trees, are generally transplanted 

 in the spring of the second year. 



The ground for transplanting being prepared, the plants should 

 be removed from the seed-bed by means of raising them with a 

 hand garden -fork, so as not to break or lacerate the fibres, and 

 then placed in a shallow pan containing some puddle made of the 

 same mould, so that the roots may be kept quite moist, and thus 

 conveyed to the transplanting bed. A trench about 3 inches 

 deep must then be made with a line and hoe or spade, and the 

 plants carefully placed in it, the roots being spread with a dex- 

 terous touch of the finger at the distance of about 2 inches from 

 each other, then cover them with the hand, taking care to fix 

 them in an upright position. When this is done, proceed to make 

 another trench about 15 inches from the former, and so of the 

 rest. The beds should be narrow, and the lines or trenches made 

 across them, to allow of a facility of hoeing the plants without 

 stepping upon the bed. In order, however, to save room in the 

 nursery, the plants may be ranged lengthwise, if the w^eeders be 

 cautioned to keep their feet upon the interval which has not been 

 hoed. As the plants when removed from the seed-beds are of 

 very unequal sizes, they should be sorted previous to their being 

 placed in the rows, by which means each will have a fair start. 

 Scotch, spruce, and silver fir should have a little more room in 

 the lines than larch, and will generally requn'e to stand a year 

 longer before they are finally planted out. Larch will often be 

 tall enough after standing one year in the lines, but the others 

 always require two years, and sometimes more. 



The seeds of oak, Spanish chesnut, ash, plane, sycamore, and 

 beech, may either be planted as soon as they are collected in the 

 autumn, or kept in dry places in boxes, casks, or bins mixed with 

 sand until the spring; the latter plan is perhaps the best, as they 

 are by that means less exposed to the depredation of field-mice 

 and the contention of v/eeds. Oaks and Spanish chesnuts should 

 be planted singly in rows about 18 inches apart, with intervals of 

 4 or 5 inches in the row, and covered about 2 inches deep. The 

 smaller seeds, such as ash, beech, &c., may be sown thick along 

 the drills made with a hoe, and covered aboiit 2 inches deep. 

 Great care must be taken to destroy the field-mice, either by traps 

 or by poison ; a figure-of-four trap, with a brick or tile, is gene- 

 rally used for this purpose. Oaks and Spanish chesnuts, managed 

 as above directed, will not require transplanting, but at the end of 

 the second year, if a sharp spade be introduced, so as to sever the 

 roots about 4 or 5 inches beneath the surface, a great quantity of 

 fibres will be formed on the upper part, which will insure the 

 success of the trees when planted out. 



As the smaller seeds of ash, beech, &c. will come up thick. 



