MANAGEMENT OF YOUNG PLANTS. 55 



order to attract the moisture from the atmospheric 

 air. In the fall it is a good method to strew some 

 short manure or rotten leaf mould on the ground 

 near the stems of the cuttings, in order to guard 

 them from the frost, which often draws them from 

 the ground. 



The second year the young plants may be pruned, 

 by thinning out the tops or heading in the young 

 shoots to an eye, leaving three or four eyes on each 

 plant, as the gooseberry, currant, and the like shrub- 

 by dwarf growing fruit trees which form compacter 

 and handsomer trees by being headed down in this 

 manner. If the plants are weakly, some good rot- 

 ten manure dug in between the rows, will greatly 

 facilitate their growth the second year. When the 

 plants are of a sufficient size, they may be planted 

 out as other trees from the nursery, into the depart- 

 ment assigned them for fruiting. 



ART. 3. On the Management of Layers. 



The principal management requisite for* layers af- 

 ter they are put down, is to keep them regularly 

 moist during the growing season, that they may 

 throw out roots from the incisions made in a freer 

 manner early in the spring. In dry seasons this is 

 much facilitated by covering the ground all over 

 (where the layers are inserted) with short manure, 

 or a better substitute is a quantity of long moss 

 which can be obtained from the woods ; this is an 

 essential point in nursery business, little attended 

 to, although of great importance. Any person 

 must be aware, that plants, in the act of throw- 

 ing out young roots, should have every encourage- 



