NURSERY MANAGEMENT 59 



a sharp knife, but otherwise the less pruning is done the 

 better, as disease often enters the wounds formed. 



Pricking out may be done in any open weather during 

 autumn and spring, the latter being the most favourable time. 

 Care must be taken not to plant too deeply, as this is a common 

 cause of failure ; the plants should be placed in the ground to 

 the same depth as they stood before. 



The best general distance at which to place seedlings in the 

 nursery lines is 9 inches by 4 inches, but very quick growers 

 may be put in at 12 inches by 6 inches. As the plants will 

 be taken out again in one or two years' time it is not necessary 

 to give a larger space, and it is very important to get as many 

 plants as possible into the nursery, as the cost of weeding per 

 thousand plants is thus reduced ; 9 inches between the rows 

 just gives a man room to put his feet down and to work a hoe. 



If very large plants, six or more years old, are required for 

 planting out they must be transplanted more than once in 

 order to keep the root system bushy and fibrous. Trans- 

 planting of such plants should be done every two years. If, 

 owing to want of ground, or for any other reason, plants 

 cannot be transplanted at the proper time, they should be 

 undercut. This is done by pushing in a sharp spade in such 

 a way as to cut off the lower roots. This retards growth and 

 causes new fibrous roots to be formed, but the operation 

 should only be substituted for transplantation in case of 

 absolute necessity. 



Tending the nursery. The young plants in the seed-beds 

 and nursery lines must be protected against various dangers 

 which threaten them. The chief are frost, drought, drying 

 winds, weeds, destructive birds, mice, moles, squirrels, hares 

 and rabbits, injurious insects of which the cockchafer grub 

 is the worst and injurious fungi, which cause disease. 

 Measures to be taken against these pests are dealt with in 

 Chapters VIII, IX, and X. 



