PREPARATION OF SOIL FOR NURSERY 65 



attention is given to correcting natural defects. For example, if the 

 soil be naturally heavy, it may be improved somewhat by repeated 

 plowing and cultivation, during the year before starting the trees. If 

 it be an adobe, its mechanical condition may be greatly improved by the 

 application of a top dressing of lime at the rate of six hundred to one 

 thousand pounds of lime to the acre. For this purpose "lime waste," 

 which contains both lime and wood ashes, can be had cheaply at the 

 kilns. Old plaster which may have been left from house repairs is 

 excellent. Even builders' lime would not be very expensive, for but 

 little would be required for so small a plot of land as a farm nursery 

 would need to cover. The lime will increase the amount of plant food 

 in a heavy soil as well as render it more friable. Another way in which 

 a small area of heavy soil may be improved is by the addition of sand. 

 A few loads of sand, if it can be had near by, will remove the tendency 

 to crack, and will act as mulch to prevent evaporation of moisture. If 

 the soil be very loose and subject to too rapid drying. out, the remedy 

 will be moderate irrigation during the summer, but it should cease 

 early enough to allow the young trees to ripen their wood before the 

 frosts of autumn. Mulches of various light, fine materials, rotted straw 

 and the like, may be used to advantage among the young seedlings in 

 preventing drying out of the soil, if the plot is to be hand-worked, but 

 such materials are apt to be in the way of neat, thorough work with 

 the horse. A mulch of sand, if available, is not open to this objection 



In choosing soil for a nursery, a piece of land which has been in 

 cultivation for garden or field crops is to be preferred over a newly- 

 cleared piece. It is often the case that soil from which old stumps or 

 shoots have recently been removed has become soured from the process 

 of decay in the dead wood. Although the deposits of humus from 

 decay of woody fiber tends to enrich the soil, afterwards certain 

 acids are formed if the land lies without cultivation. These are not 

 favorable to the growth of young roots, and a crop to which as much 

 time is given as a crop of young trees, should not be placed upon it. 

 This evil quality in the soil is removed by cultivation and aeration, or 

 may be corrected by the application of lime. This state of soil is most 

 complained of in connection with old stumps and roots of oak trees. 



Situation and Exposure. Warmth in the soil is necessary to a 

 good growth, and a good year's growth is essential to the production 

 of a satisfactory tree. Drainage contributes notably to the warmth 

 of the soil. Exposure is also of importance. Plenty of sunshine and 

 protection from cold winds are to be secured. Sometimes a little eleva- 

 tion is desirable. It would be a serious mistake to seek moist, low land 

 if the piece lies at the bottom of a little valley or depression where the 

 cold air settles during the night and frosts are frequent. In such cases 

 choose higher ground. Of course, in broad, open valleys there is not 

 this objection, for such seasonable frosts as may be expected there are 

 not injurious to deciduous nursery stock. The greatest nurseries in 

 the State are in the open valleys, not on the lowest ground, however, in 

 all cases, but on what would be called good, rich valley land. There 

 are, however, situations in the thermal belts in which the temperature 

 does not fall low enough to check growth of deciduous trees and cause 



