110 A MANUAL OF FORESTRY. 



Broadcast sowing takes from twice to four times 

 the quantity of seed required for drill sowing ; hence 

 Gayer's data for conifers agree fairly well with those 

 given by Messrs. Howden & Co. 



I. Pricking out. 



In some cases the seedlings are taken direct from the 

 seed-bed to the forest ; in others they are transplanted 

 once or several times in the nursery before they are 

 finally put out. British foresters call the former " seed- 

 ling plants," and the latter u transplants." 



Seedling plants which are to go direct to the forest 

 must be grown roomy in the seed-beds, so that they may 

 develop properly ; plants which are to be pricked out in 

 the nursery may stand closer together in the seed-beds. 



Pricked-out plants are generally placed in rows, called 

 " nursery lines." The soil devoted to them must be 

 carefully prepared, though not perhaps quite to the same 

 extent as that of seed-beds. 



The area required for nursery lines depends on the 

 species, the age of the seedlings when pricked out, 

 and the time they are to remain in the nursery ; on 

 an average it may be estimated at 8 to 10 times the 

 area of the seed-beds, provided the plants are one year 

 old when pricked out, and four years old when put out 

 into the forest. 



Seedlings should be pricked out while young ; in the 

 tropics the right age is sometimes only a few weeks ; in 

 temperate Europe generally one or two years, according 

 to the nature of the species and the locality. 



When the object is to produce large and strong plants, 



