228 WOMEN AND FORESTRY 



of the seed bed is one of the most important factors to 

 the success of the seedlings. The seedlings remain in 

 the seed bed for two years, so that there are two years' 

 weeding to be done in them, and in any big nursery 

 there may be many yards of beds, some in their second 

 year and others in their first. Before the seed is sown, 

 usually early in May in this part of Scotland, the work 

 of transplanting the seedlings which are two years 

 old will have been finished. This work is undertaken 

 during the late winter whenever open weather favours 

 its performance. The young plants are carefully dug 

 up with a fork and sized, usually two sizes are sufficient, 

 all weakly and diseased plants being burnt as useless. 

 They are then " lined out," as it is termed, in the 

 breaks ; that is, placed in rows, the larger and stronger 

 plants separately from the smaller ones. This involves 

 a good deal of labour when your plants are numbered 

 by the thousand, for it will be evident that a few yards 

 of seed bed will produce several thousand plants. 

 The lining out involves digging a trench with a vertical 

 wall on one side, the placing of the young plants against 

 this wall with their roots hanging down freely (the 

 trench must be of the requisite depth to permit of this), 

 filling up the trench and treading down the earth firmly 

 so as to prevent all chance of the young plants shaking 

 or wobbling after being subject for a few hours to a 

 strong wind. Row upon row of these young two-year- 

 old plants have to be lined out in this manner, and in 

 a large nursery this work involves a good deal of labour. 

 But it is work which is well within the capacity of 

 women, and I believe they will do it better than the 

 average boy or young man. The young trees, trans- 



