THE FORMATION OF PLANTATIONS. 285 
therefore supply at a cheaper rate than they can be produced 
in a home nursery, where the same amount of attention cannot 
so readily be given them. But when the plants are removed 
from the seed-bed, and transplanted into lines, they necessarily 
occupy a large space of ground, and a proportionately heavy rent 
charge must be laid on them; and when it is considered that 
land occupied as public nurseries is generally near some large 
city, and is worth perhaps ten times more than the home nursery 
ground, it is easily understood why large transplanted trees from 
the public nurseries must be dearer than those grown at home. 
It is our own opinion, therefore, that when the planting 
operations are not so extensive as to warrant the establishing 
of nurseries on the site of the projected plantations, the most 
economical method is to procure seedlings from the public 
nurseries, and rear them in a well-exposed home nursery to a size 
suitable for the enclosure to be planted. When purchasing plants, 
it must be observed that a due proportion should always exist 
between roots, stem, and branches; and preference should not 
always be given to those which apparently are the most vigorous 
and free-growing, for very often these are sparsely rooted, and will 
not readily establish themselves when transplanted. It is an 
indispensable condition that the plants be possessed of one un- 
blemished leading shoot, and only one. Conifers may be considered 
useless when their leaders are damaged. It is quite a simple 
matter to introduce any disease or insect pest into a plantation, 
but it will usually be found to be an impossibility to eradicate 
either when once established. Those plants exhibiting the 
slightest symptoms of disease or insect attack should therefore, 
in every case, be rejected. It is of paramount importance, then, 
to select healthy, well-proportioned plants, entirely free from 
defects of even apparently the slightest importance. 
11. Size or Pxiants, AND DISTANCES AT WHICH EACH VARIETY 
SHOULD BE PLANTED APART. 
On high, exposed sites, where rank herbage has not to be 
contended with, small plants should always be used. It is a 
very common mistake to use too large plants for such places. 
Their age should not exceed two years. Two-year seedlings, or 
one-year seedlings one year transplanted, are much more likely 
to prove successful than if large transplanted trees were used, 
