1728 ARBORETUM AND FRUTICETU.M. PART III. 



are to be kept, they should be made perfectly dry in the sun, or in an airy 

 shed, mixed with dry sand, in the proportion of three bnshcls of sand to one 

 bushel of acorns, or with dry moss; and then exchided from tlie air and 

 vermin, by beiuii put into barrels or l)ox(s, or laid up in a cellar, or buried in 

 heaps, and covered with a sufficient thickness of earth to exclude the weather. 

 If the acorns are to be transported from one country to another, the same 

 mixiu!; with dry sand or dry moss, and exclusion from the air, is adopted ; 

 but the more certain mode of retaining the vital princi[)le in acorns is, to mix 

 them with moist earth, or with moist live moss (.S'phagnum) : in either of 

 tile latter mediums, they will <,'ermiuate during along voyage; but no evil will 

 result from this, |)rovided they are sown immediately on their arrival. When 

 acorns are to be sown in a nursery, the soil ought to be thoroughly prepared 

 and rcnilereil fine ; and, after the" earth is drawn off the beds, or the drills 

 opened, the acorns may either be scattered over the beds, or along the drills, 

 so that the nuts may be about 2 in. apart; and, to regulate this distance 

 with greater certainty, the sand may be separated from the acorns with 

 a sieve, lu either case, the acorns, before covering, must be patted down 

 with the back of a spade in the beds, and with the back of a wooden-headed 

 rake in the drills. The covering, which ought to be of well-broken soil, 

 should vary in de|)th, according to the size of the acorn ; l.\ in. being enough 

 for those of the largest size, such as those of the groups liobur, A'lbrt, &c. ; 

 and iin. for those of the smallest size, such as those of the groups /Mex, 

 /'hellos, &c. No mode of depositing acorns in the soil can be worse than 

 that of dropping them in holes made by a dibble. The acorn drops into 

 the hole, and becomes wedged by its sides before it gets to the bottom ; and, 

 if the upper extremity of the acorn should be downwards instead of upwards, 

 it can hardly be expected to grow. For this reason, the dibber shoulil only 

 be used in pulverised soils ; and the point of the instument should be of a 

 diameter greater than the length of the largest acorn which has to be tlroppcd 

 into the hole. As acorns are greedily devoured by vermin, and especially by 

 land rats and mice, they ought to be sown in an open pai't of the nursery, not 

 near hedges, ditches, or houses ; and w here, w hether in nurseries, or in fields 

 intended to become oak woods, much danger is apprehended from vermin, 

 they ought not to be sown till late in March, so as to lessen the period be- 

 tween the depositing of the acorn and its becoming a plant. 



As all oaks, when young, are remarkable for throwing down long and vigo- 

 rous taproots, and producing few lateral ones, they ought to be sown where 

 they are finally to remain, especially if the subsoil be good, and other cir- 

 cumstances not unfavourable; but, as this cannot always be the case, it is 

 customary among nurserymen to transplant the oak at one or two years' 

 growth, removing great part of the taproot ; some of them, however, shorten 

 the taproot without removing the plant, by inserting the spade obliquely 

 in the soil, so as to cut through the roots, at from G in. to 8 in. beneath 

 the surface; an ojieration most conveniently performed when the oaks are 

 sown in drills ; because in that case the spade can first be inserted all along 

 one side of the drill, and then all along the other. The French nurserymen, 

 when acorns, walnuts, and other tree seeds which send down very long tap- 

 roots, are to be reared with a view to being transplanted, sometimes germinate 

 them in moist earth, or in sawdust, placed in a temperature of 50° or 60°; 

 and, after the radicle has been protrndeil two or three times the length of the 

 acorn or nut, pinch off its extreme point before the seed is committed to the 

 soil. This treatment, which is applicable, as we have seen in the case of the 

 horsechestnut (see p. 460.), to most large-seeded trees, has the effect of im- 

 mciliately causing the taproot to throw out numerous lateral fibres ; which 

 is highly favourable for transiilantation, though it is not so for the rapid 

 grow"th of the tree for the first year or two afterwards. To counteract its 

 effect in tliis respect, when the tree is planted where it is finally to remain, and 

 has grown there two or three years, it ought to be cut down to the ground ; 

 after^ which it will throw up vigorous shoots, and send down perpendicular 



