THE NEW FORESTRY. I2Q 



year seedlings, which, in the pine class, are very small, and in 

 the broa'd-leaved species only two or three inches high, can be 

 quickly lifted and delivered anywhere with little, or no risk, 

 and very few need fail in the nursery lines. The commoner 

 species cost from about two shillings and sixpence to five 

 shillings, and scarcer species about seven shillings and sixpence 

 per thousand. At this rate a home nursery can soon be 

 stocked, but unless the forester has gauged his wants pretty 

 accurately, he may in two or three years' time find himself in 

 possession of more stock than he can handle and get out in 

 due course, and the trees then get above the planting-out size 

 and become useless. Frequent transplanting will, of course, 

 keep the trees in check and fit for moving, but every time the 

 trees are handled in *his way, before they go to their final 

 destination in the woods, adds to their cost. For this reason 

 the nursery should be roomy, so as to avoid crowding, which is 

 the chief danger in home nurseries, particularly where those in 

 charge are not familiar with nursery work. Where the room is 

 limited, preference should be given, as before stated, to the 

 pine class, as these are the most difficult to deal with, and the 

 deciduous species may be bought from the public nursery. 

 Young forest trees of the same kind, in nursery quarters, do 

 not all grow at the same rate, and when the plants become 

 thick in the row, and the rows are near to each other, the 

 weaker trees are smothered and die out before the rows can be 

 transplanted. One half of the stock may be lost in this way 

 in a short while. The ash, alder, sycamore, and other broad- 

 leaved species suffer in this way, as the second year after 

 planting in the nursery the strongest seedlings will often make 

 growths from three to five feet long, and, overtopping the 

 weaker trees at an early stage, the latter make no headway and 

 finally perish. The writer has seen what appeared to be a fine 

 even quarter of ash or sycamore, when lifted, reveal losses from 

 smothering to the extent of nearly thirty per cent. Such 

 losses can only be prevented by giving the plants the room 

 they require. It is not the crowding of the plants in the row 

 that does the mischief so much as the crowding of the rows 

 so closely together that the tops of the strongest trees meet 

 and exclude the light from the weaker ones. At all stages the 

 rows should stand clear of each other so that the light may 

 reach the ground between them. The weaklings at the 

 bottom of the rows will then receive sufficient light to keep 

 them alive till the next transplanting, when the tall and the 

 short plants should be separated. 

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