ON PLANTING WASTE LAND FOR PROFIT. 187 



when the plants are in full growth. If there be any signs of 

 disease, or of beetles or caterpillars amongst the plants, their 

 ravages are more easily detected then than in the winter months 

 when deciduous foliage has been shed, and when the year's 

 growth is finished. 



Diseased or damaged plants should not be purchased, nor 

 any which have been over -crowded in the seed-beds or in 

 the nursery-lines. These are readily known by their long, thin 

 growth, their very thin bark, and their deficiency in fibrous roots. 

 Plants grown crowded in the nursery never harden their young 

 shoots sufficiently to protect them against severe frost when 

 planted out ; thus loss and disappointment are often caused. 



In purchasing Scots pine, if the ground to be planted is 

 covered with short heathy growth, then select plants which 

 have been two years in the seed-bed and one year transplanted, 

 and which have short, stubby stems well furnished with branches, 

 dark green needles, and a good supply of fibrous roots. If the 

 ground to be planted is covered with bracken, rough grass, or 

 heather, then use plants which have been two years in the seed- 

 bed and two years transplanted. The bigger plants will occasion 

 less cleaning or weeding during the first two or three years after 

 planting, and will thus repay their higher cost. 



Spnice, which is of slower growth than Scots pine at first, 

 should stand two years in the seed-bed and three years (twice 

 transplanted) in the nursery-lines before being planted out. 



In selecting larch for ordinary ground, the plants should be 

 one-year seedlings, one year transplanted. If the surface of 

 the ground be covered with rough herbage, then use two-year 

 seedlings, two years transplanted. See that they have their 

 original leaders, for often the young plants nipped by frost in 

 the seed-bed afterwards develop a bush}- crown which no 

 method of cultivation can remove. 



Hardwoods should not be planted out less than three feet in 

 height, and they should be twice transplanted. 



Another important point to be kept in view when selecting 

 plants is that they should not be brought from a low-lying, well- 

 sheltered nursery and planted on a high, exposed situation. 

 To have a fair chance of thriving, the plants should be taken 

 from some nursery of about the same altitude and exposure 

 as that of the new plantation. 



Planting. — Wdis'vcig selected the plants, great care has to be 



