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operations, eliminates danger of damage to the system due to sudden 

 changes of weather and brings the water to the plants at a more equable 

 temperature. The pipes need not be buried below frost line but all should 

 be laid on a grade sufficient to drain them thoroughly in winter. Hydrants 

 should drain underground automatically and should be provided at fre- 

 quent intervals. 



The size of the nursery will depend entirely upon the quantity and 

 classes of stock that are required annually. Obviously a great deal more 

 space is needed for growing transplants than for an equal number of seed- 

 lings and broad-leaved species as a rule demand considerably more room 

 than do conifers. Ordinarily for conifers an acre of ground will take care 

 of from thirty-five thousand to one hundred twenty thousand transplants, 

 depending upon the length of time they are to remain in the nursery rows, 

 whereas the same area devoted to the production of seedlings is sufficient 

 for approximately two million two-year olds. But for a sustained annual 

 output of say two million two-year seedlings twice this acreage is necessary 

 since the trees occupy the ground for a period of two years. Likewise with 

 transplants the space required to supply any given quantity per annum 

 is dependent upon the number of years that they are to stand in the nursery 

 before being sent to the field. In other words the amount of growing space 

 to be provided is in almost direct ratio to the numbers and age classes 

 desired annually. It is well, however, to allow for some additional ground 

 so that some portion of the nursery may always be resting under beneficial 

 cover crops so regulated that the entire area may periodically undergo a 

 complete rotation. 



As to the best cultural methods to be employed in the nursery no general 

 rules can be given that will apply to all alike. So much depends upon the 

 latitude, the site, the species to be raised, and like conditions. The ques- 

 tion therefore becomes more or less of a local one, best met and solved 

 through practice and experience in each individual case. Even with two 

 nurseries where almost identical conditions obtain, the same methods may 

 produce quite different results, or putting it another way, the employment 

 of opposite methods may lead to entirely satisfactory results. The per- 

 sonal element enters very largely into the degree of success attained. In our 

 own work we have found that discontinuance of a number of practices, at 

 one time generally considered as prerequisites to success, has brought about 

 marked improvements. Practically all of our seeding is now done in the 

 fall, whereas spring sowing was formerly the rule. We no longer make 

 use of shades for shade's sake, and the stock is none the worse off for lack 

 of it. Mulch in every form has been dispensed with and a considerable 

 item of labor thereby avoided, to say nothing of the subsequent beneficial 

 effects upon the plants. And all of these innovations combined have ap- 

 parently led to the total elimination of the dread disease known as damping- 

 off. Originally, as was the custom, we attempted to combat this disease 

 by the application of fungicides as a preventive but with only mediocre 

 results. Now we feel that we can control it entirely by the simple cul- 

 tural methods mentioned above. We are also tending more and more 

 towards greater intensiveness in all lines of nursery work believing it to 

 be economy to do so on the assumption that, other things being equal, the 



