Plantations and Home Nurseries Competition, 1911. 2 'J 7 



large home nursery, and received first awards for seed beds 

 of conifers and for the best plots of seedlings from seeds 

 collected on the estate. Another nice nursery is that at 

 Sprowston, where Sir Eustace Gurney takes such a personal 

 interest in the propagation of trees. The first-rate nursery at 

 Holkham lost points in the judging on account of there being 

 no seed beds, but the best plots of transplanted trees were seen 

 on this estate. Two nurseries were entered from Lord 

 Beauchamp's Langley estate, where the plots of special merit 

 were the pines, Douglas fir, and Sitka spruce. In the case of 

 Mr. Kenneth Clark's nursery at Sudbourne, a higher award 

 would probably have been given had there not been a lack 

 of variety in the species grown. This nursery is no less than 

 7 acres in extent and practically no plants are purchased, 

 the forester believing in raising them from seed of his own 

 collection, and, on the whole, the young trees are growing 

 healthily and are well rooted. Among the smaller nurseries 

 there was scarcely any competition, it being stipulated in the 

 entry form that the ground must not exceed half an acre in 

 extent, whereas nearly all the nurseries shown had a greater 

 area. Major Montgomerie, however, entered quite a good little 

 nursery at Garboldisham and obtained an award for it. 



Most of the twenty-one home nurseries entered were shown 

 in excellent condition, and the stock of plants was generally 

 well chosen. A considerably higher standard relatively was 

 attained in the Nursery Competition than in the Plantations 

 or Estates. Perhaps this may be taken as an indication of 

 coming improvements in other departments on private estates. 

 A very general fault was to allow too much space between the 

 nursery lines, and the raising of plants from seed was not 

 always well understood. In the selection of site, too, some 

 serious errors had been made. 



In conclusion, the Judges wish to record their appreciation 

 of the kindness and hospitality which was shown to them 

 during the inspection. The arrangements must have entailed 

 a great deal of labour on the part of the Committee, which, 

 however, has the satisfaction of feeling that everything went 

 smoothly from start to finish. Particularly heavy work fell 

 upon Mr. Blofeld, who was responsible for the itinerary and 

 accompanied the Judges during the tour. He had the assistance 

 of Mr. Burroughes and Mr. Brereton. In the early stages of 

 preparation Mr. Coltman Rogers had much of the organising 

 work to do, and to him the Judges are, to a large extent, 

 indebted for securing such a large number of motor cars, 

 thus saving a great deal of time, and in fact making the 

 adjudication upon the twenty-two different estates possible 

 within so brief a period as seven days. 



