348 TRANSACTIONS OF ROYAL SCOTTISH ARBORICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



causes the soil to bake and become full of cracks, and thus numbers 

 of the seed are lost. Sowing should not take place until April 

 or May, and dry weather must be cliosen for this work, as well 

 as for the formation of the beds. Should dry parching weather 

 prevail for any length of time after sowing, watering may be 

 resorted to with great benefit, using a fine-rosed watering-can and 

 rain water if j^rocurable. 



When the young plants begin to appear, shading from direct 

 sunshine will be highly beneficial, and this can easily be done by 

 sticking a few spruce branches around the beds, particularly on 

 the southern and western sides. The beds should be kept at all 

 times clean and free fi'om weeds, which is best performed by hand- 

 picking during dripping weather, as at such a time the young 

 plants are less apt to suffer fx'om root disturbance caused by the 

 extraction of the weeds. As the seedlings will have to remain for 

 one winter at least in the beds before they are large enough for 

 planting out, it is probable that numbers of them will be raised 

 up by the frost, and in such cases a quantity of fine sandy soil, 

 evenly sifted amongst them, will soon set matters right. Should 

 the young plants come up too closely, it is wise policy to thin out 

 the smaller for the benefit of the remaining ones. 



When they have attained a size suflicient for handling, they 

 should be carefully lifted with a fork, and planted in previously 

 prepared soil — not in too sheltered a portion, but where the wind 

 can have free access to them. The size of the plants will form a 

 guide as to the distance apart at which they should be planted ; 

 but seedlings of the second year may be placed at about 4 inches 

 apart in the rows, and 9 inches from line to line. Spread the 

 roots well out in planting, laying them out to their full extent on 

 all sides of the plant. After remaining for two years in this 

 position, the young plants should again be transplanted into well- 

 eni'iched ground, their individual sizes forming, at this stage of 

 their growth, the best criterion as to the distance apart at which 

 they should be placed. 



In planting, however, the method usually adopted of taking out 

 a notch and placing the plant close against the perpendicular side, 

 will not do, as by such a course of treatment the roots are caused 

 to diverge to one side, and when the trees are jjlanted out perma- 

 nently they usually topple over during the first hard-blowing gale. 

 The best method we know of, and one that we have adopted with 

 success, is to take out a notch on each side of the line, and partly 

 level the ridge under the latter, the centre of the crown of each 



