52 NURSERY MANAGEMENT 



should be placed in a different part of the ditch to mature for 

 two years. Care must be taken not to throw flowering weeds 

 into the ditch ; these should be burnt to destroy the seeds. 

 An occasional dressing of lime to the dead leaves in the 

 ditch will hasten their decomposition and will improve the 

 manure. 



Laying out the nursery. The area should be divided up by 

 paths into squares or rectangles of about one quarter of an acre 

 each. In a small nursery of about one acre a cart road is 

 seldom necessary, but if the area is large a good cart road 

 10 feet wide should be made down the centre with a turning 

 space at the end, and paths 3 feet wide should then be made 

 at right angles to the road, so that a wheelbarrow can be taken 

 to all parts. These paths may be lined with an edging of 

 privet to prevent the soil falling on to them, or a line of 

 stones may be used for this purpose. The paths should be 

 made hard with small stones and gravel. 



About one-tenth of the area of the nursery will be required 

 for seed-beds, and this should be further divided into beds 

 about 3 feet in width with a sufficiently wide footpath 

 between them. A bed 4 feet wide is difficult to weed, and 

 narrow beds are therefore preferable. The rest of the area 

 will be used for nursery lines and the parts devoted to this 

 work need not be further subdivided. 



The nursery having been laid out, it should be stocked by 

 purchasing one and two year old seedlings of the species 

 required, which should be lined out in nursery lines, and by 

 sowing seed. 



Sowing the seed-beds. The soil on the seed-beds must be 

 brought to a fine state of division by raking. If the seed is to 

 be sown broadcast a wooden rake without teeth is used to 

 draw away the top soil to the sides, the amount drawn away 

 depending on the depth to which the seed must be sown. The 

 seed is then sown equally over the surface and the drawn up 

 earth is pushed over the bed with the wooden rake so as to 



