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N U R 



THE UNIVERSAL HERBAL; 



NUR 



to produce lateral branches, by which they are spoiled. If 

 the winter should prove very cold, it will be of great service 

 to your young stocks, to lay some mulch upon the surface 

 of the ground near their roots, which will prevent the frost 

 from penetrating the ground, so as to hurt the tender fibres 

 which were produced after planting: but you should be 

 careful not to let it lie too thick near the stems of the plants, 

 nor remain too long, lest the moisture should be prevented 

 from penetrating to the roots of the plants, which it often 

 does where there is not due care taken to remove it as soon 

 as the frost is over. In thesummer, hoe and destroy the 

 weeds, which if permitted to remain in the nursery, will 

 greatly weaken and retard the growth of your stocks; and 

 in the succeeding years, dig up the ground every spring 

 between the rows, which will loosen it so that the fibres 

 may easily strike out on each side, and the weeds will 

 thereby be destroyed. If any of the stocks have put forth 

 lateral branches, prune them off, that they may be encou- 

 raged to grow upright and smooth. The second year after 

 planting, such of the stocks as are designed for dwarf trees 

 will be fit to bud, but those which are designed for standards 

 should be suffered to grow six or seven feet high before they 

 are budded or grafted. See Inoculation and Grafting. The 

 stocks which were budded in summer and have failed, may 

 be grafted the following spring; but Peaches and Necta- 

 rines never take well from grafts, and should therefore be 

 always budded. The ground reserved for the Flower Nursery 

 should be well situated to the sun, but defended from strong 

 winds by plantations of trees or buildings, and the soil 

 should be light and dry; which must always be observed, 

 especially for bulbous-rooted flowers, which are designed to 

 be planted therein, the particulars of which are exhibited 

 under the several articles of flowers. In this part of the 

 nursery should be planted the offsets of all bulbous-rooted 

 flowers, where they are to remain until they become blowing 

 roots, when they should be removed into the pleasure-garden, 

 and planted either in beds or borders, according to the good- 

 ness of the flowers, or the management which they require. 

 In this ground also the different sorts of bulbous-rooted 

 flowers may be raised from seed, by which means new 

 varieties may be obtained ; but most people are discouraged 

 from setting about this work, from the length of time before 

 the seedlings will come to flower: but notwithstanding this, 

 after a person has once begun, and continues sowing every 

 year, after the parcel first sown has flowered, the regular 

 succession of them coming annually to flower will not render 

 tliis method so tedious as it at first appeared. The seedling 

 Auriculas. Polyanthuses, Ranunculuses, Anemonies, Carna- 

 tions, &c. should be raised in this nursery, where they should 

 be preserved until they have flowered ; then mark all that 

 are worth transplanting into the flower-garden, which should 

 be done in their proper seasons; for it is not so well to have 

 all these seedling flowers exposed to public view in the flower- 

 garden, because there are 'a great number of ordinary flowers 

 produced among them, which would make but an indifferent 



appearance in the pleasure-garden. For a Nursery, Dr. 



Hunter recommends a rich, deep, and stiffish mould, though 

 the trees should afterwards be removed into a poorer soil. Rea- 

 son, says he, teaches that young trees growing luxuriantly and 

 freely in a good soil, will form vigorous and healthy roots; 

 and when they come to be afterwards planted in worse land, 

 they will be able from the strength of their constitution to 

 feed themselves freely with coarse food. On the contrary, 

 jfoung trees raised upon poor land, by having their vessels 

 contracted, and their outward bark mossy and diseased, will 

 be a long time, even after being removed to a rich soil, before 



they attain to a vigorous state. Having fixed upon a proper 

 place, of a sufficient size for the purpose, fence it with hedges, 

 pales, or walls, to keep out cattle, hares, and rabbits ; then 

 in October or November trench the land two spits deep, 

 and in spring turn it over again; after which, let the surface 

 be laid smooth, and set out into quarters. A very judicious 

 planter, adds Dr. Hunter, recommended to him the following 

 method of making a seminary or nursery for forest trees. 

 Trench the ground in November eighteen inches deep, if 

 the soil will admit of it; but where the staple is too thin, 

 one foot will be sufficient, in which case the sward must be 

 pared off very thin, and laid in the bottom of the trench. 

 The following year let this land be cultivated with a crop 

 of cabbages, turnips, or rape, which must be eaten off with 

 sheep. After this, a common digging will be sufficient, pre- 

 viously to its being formed into beds for the reception of the 

 seeds. The urine of the sheep is one of the most cherishing 

 manures for all plants raised in a seminary or nursery. The 

 soil of the nursery, according to Mr. Marshall, should be rich 

 and deep, and should be prepared by double diggings and 

 other meliorations: if not deep and rich by nature, it must 

 be made so by art; for if the roots of tender plants have not 

 a soil they affect, or sufficient room to strike in, there will 

 be little hope of their furnishing themselves with that ample 

 stock of fibres which is necessary to a good plant, and with 

 which it is the principal use of the nursery to supply them. 

 The situation of the nursery is determined by the soil, or 

 by local conveniences : the nearer it is, the more attendance 

 will probably be given it; but the nearer it lies to the scene 

 of planting, the less carriage will be requisite. In pruning 

 seedlings, layers, and suckers, for the nursery, the roots 

 should not be left too long, but trimmed off pretty close, to 

 form a snug globular root. By this means the new fibres 

 will be formed immediately round the main root, and may 

 of course easily be removed with it, without disturbing the 

 earth interwoven among them. The tops should, in most 

 cases, be trimmed close up to the leader; or, if awkward or 

 defective, be cut off a little above the rooj. Various methods 

 are practised for putting in seedlings ; by the dibble, by the 

 scoop, by a single chop with the spade, by two chops one 

 across the other, by square holes made by four chops of the 

 spade, bringing up the mould with the last, or by bedding, 

 a method chiefly made use of for quicksets. The chief art 

 in putting them in, lies in not cramping the fibres of the 

 roots, but letting them lie free and easy ir\ the mould: the 

 particular mode or instrument to be made use of depends 

 much upon the size of the plants to be put in. This also 

 determines in a great measure the proper distance between 

 the rows, and between plant and plant. The proposed 

 method of cleaning is also a guide to the distance. The 

 natural tendency of the plant itself must also be considered. 

 From six to twenty-four inches in the rows, with intervals 

 from one to four feet wide, will comprehend the whole 

 variation of distances, Pruning is necessary, to prevent the 

 plants from crowding to each other, and to give them stem. 

 Shrubs which do not require a stem should be planted in a 

 quincunx, that they may spread every way; but forest and 

 other trees require some length of stem, and in giving them 

 this, the leading shoot is more particularly to be attended to. 

 If the heads be double, one of the shoots must be taken 

 close off; if it be maimed or defective, it may be well to 

 cut the plant down to the ground, and train a fresh shoot; 

 or if the head be taken off smooth, immediately above a 

 strong side-shoot, this will sometimes outgrow the crooked- 

 ness, and in a few years become a straight plant. The time 

 of the plants remaining in the nursery is determined by & 



