42 FORESTRY 



The size of the nursery depends upon the number of trees 

 required, and on whether the seedlings raised are to be 

 set out in nursery lines once or oftener. To give an 

 approximate idea, the area necessary to provide three- or 

 four-years-old transplants must be ten times that of the seed- 

 beds, and for six-years-old plants, twenty times. 



For temporary nurseries a lighter type of fence than is 

 necessary for permanent nurseries is sufficient. The latter 

 may have strong wooden or iron railings or hedges round them, 

 but usually require substantial wire-netting fences as well. 



Land intended for nurseries generally requires to be 

 trenched to a depth of over a foot. During this operation, 

 all weeds and the larger roots and stones should be gathered 

 and removed. For light soils and on shallow land, digging 

 is generally all that is needed. On account of the damage 

 done by frost-lifting on Alder seed beds, digging is, in that 

 case also, more suitable than trenching. In raising Scots 

 Pine ball-plants from seed, the uppermost layer only of the 

 soil is bared, and lightly hoed or raked. Here the object 

 is to keep the ground as compact as possible, so that the 

 soil may cling to the roots when the plants are lifted. 

 On steep slopes it is occasionally necessary to grade or even 

 terrace the ground. Permanent nurseries require periodic 

 trenching of the soil, chiefly for the destruction of weeds. 



Manures may be applied to nurseries in three forms 

 (<?) as farmyard dung, which is particularly good for tenacious 

 soils ; () as vegetable matter in the form of compost, leaf 

 mould, or as " green manuring," i.e. the growing of such 

 crops as lupines, vetches, or rape, with the view of digging 

 them into the soil to enrich it and improve its physical 

 qualities, (c) The land may receive a dressing of artificial 

 manures basic slag, dried blood, bone meal, nitrate, kainit, 

 etc. These are often applied along with compost or leaf 

 mould. 



Lupines should be mown when they commence to bloom, 

 and at once dug in. Farmyard and similar manures should 

 be buried to a depth of from eight to twelve inches, whereas 



