OF A NURSERY. 17 



Great attention is required to keep the roots free 

 from suckers, as neglect on this point will produce in 

 the tree a disposition to generate suckers, which will 

 continue through the subsequent stages of its growth, 

 when removed into the orchard. In taking up the trees 

 from the nursery, no care should he spared to pre- 

 serve the roots uninjured and of a large size : in the 

 early years of my practice in the planting of or- 

 chards, I frequently lost trees of fine and vigorous 

 growth, from the injury sustained by the want of care 

 in digging them up, or as it sometimes happened, in 

 grubbing them up, with the loss of more than half 

 their roots. To persons desirous of possessing fine 

 trees, I would recommend a mode which I have a- 

 dopted to a considerable extent with great success, 

 of transplanting them from the nursery to an interme- 

 diate plantation in the garden or field ; and there cul- 

 tivating them for two or three years, at about four feet 

 apart, planting a hill of potatoes with manure in the 

 space between every four trees, and paying attention 

 during the whole time to the formation of the stems 

 and branches. This mode will be found to improve 

 the growth of the roots, extending and strengthening 

 the feeding shoots, and ensuring a rapid and vigorous 

 growth when transplanted a second time into the or- 

 chard : the product of the potatoes will repay the ex- 

 pence of manuring and cultivation, four fold. 



