PIN 



OR, BOTANICAL DICTIONARY. 



PIN 



333 



made level. At the beginning of April, just before the plants 

 begin to shoot, will be a good time to remove them. In tak- 

 ing them up, be especially careful not to tear off nor wound 

 the roots : and do not take up too many of them at one time, 

 but rather plant them as fast as they are taken up, that they 

 may be as little time out of the ground as possible. The 

 distance at which they ought to be placed in the nursery, 

 should be four feet row from row, and in the rows two feet 

 asunder. This distance may by some be thought too great; 

 but let it be considered how much their roots spread in the 

 ground, as also that when they are planted nearer together, 

 it will be very difficult to take up the plants again without 

 cutting and tearing off their roots, especially if they are not 

 all taken up clean at the same time : these considerations 

 must have greater weight than that of the loss of a little 

 ground, with all who have any regard for the future welfare 

 of the plants. In planting them, it will be advisable to draw 

 a line across the ground, and to dig out a trench of a foot 

 wide, into which the plants may be placed at the distance of 

 two feet asunder. Then fill the earth into the trench, cover- 

 ing the roots of the plants with the finest parts of it, scat- 

 tering it carefully between the roots ; and when the whole 

 trench is filled in, press the earth gently down with your 

 feet; but by no means tread it too hard, especially if the 

 ground be strong, or apt to bind too close. If the season 

 should now prove dry, the plants should be watered to settle 

 the earth to their roots ; and if it should be repeated three 

 or four times during the continuance of a dry season, it will 

 greatly promote their taking new root, and secure them from 

 the injuries of the drying winds. In this nursery the plants 

 may remain two or three years, according to their progress, 

 and should be well weeded during that time, and have the 

 ground between the rows dug every spring ; in the doing of 

 which care must be taken not to cut nor injure the roots of 

 the plants this is all the culture they will require during 

 their continuance in the nursery. When they are trans- 

 planted into the places where they are to remain, the neces- 

 sary care to be taken is, in taking them up not to injure 

 or cut off their roots, and to let them be as little time out 

 of the ground as possible, and while they are out to euard 

 their roots from the drying winds. The surest time for 

 removing these trees is about the beginning of April ; for 

 though they may be, and often are, removed with success 

 at Michaelmas, yet the spring is the best season, especially 

 in moist land. Most of the kinds of Firs will bear removmg 

 at the height of six or seven feet ; but those of two feet high 

 are much better to transplant, and will in a few years gain 

 the ascendant of taller trees. It is not therefore advisable 

 to transplant these trees when they are much above two feet 

 high, especially if they have stood in the nursery unremoved; 

 for then their roots will have extended themselves to a dis- 

 tance, and must be cut in taking them -out of the ground : 

 and where great amputation is used, either to the roots or 

 branches of these trees, the quantity of turpentine which com- 

 monly issues from the wounds will greatly weaken the trees. 

 There is another advantage also in planting them when small, 

 which is, that they will not require staking to secure them 

 from being blown down by strong winds, which in tall trees 

 is a great trouble and expense : and whoever will give them- 

 selves the trouble to observe how much the trees planted at 

 two feet high exceed those planted at a greater height, will 

 be convinced of the truth of what is here advanced. The 

 Silver Fir requires a stronger land than the Spruce, for in 

 dry ground they seldom make any great progress ; and many 

 times, even after they have arrived to a considerable size, are 

 destroyed by very dry seasons, where the soil is shallow or 



too dry : but when they are planted in a proper soil, they 

 grow to a very large size, and are extremely beautiful, having 

 the under surface of their leaves white, and the upper of a 

 dark green colour. It is, however, frequently injured by 

 frosts that happen late in the spring, especially while young: 

 for when they are planted in a warm situation, they are apt 

 to shoot pretty early, and if any sharp frosts happen after 

 they have pushed, the young shoots are killed ; so that they 

 lose a year's growth, and are rendered so very unsightly, that 

 many times they are pulled up and thrown away. In cold 

 situations, however, where they do not begin to shoot so 

 early, they are not subject to this disaster; and in many 

 such places they grow to a large size, and exhibit great 

 beauty. Some fine trees of this species of Fir, grew upon 

 natural bogs, where, by extending their roots, they had 

 drained the ground to a considerable distance round them. 

 It is in vain to plant the Silver Fir in hot, dry, or rocky 

 situations, where it commonly loses the top shoots, and the 

 under branches soon become ragged. The largest and most 

 flourishing trees are seen on sour, heavy, obstinate clay, and 

 though for ten or twelve years they do not advance so fast 

 as other Firs and Pines, yet they will outgrow them all in 

 twenty years. In sowing all sorts of Firs, neglect not to 

 clap over the bed with the back of a spade. In the autumn, 

 after sowing, pick off all mossy hard particles from the beds, 

 replacing them with some good soil, and then sifting over 

 some chaff, or rather saw-dust, that has lain some time. 

 In the succeeding spring, and during May and June, water 

 them frequently, and in autumn treat the beds as before. 

 At two years old, when the buds begin to swell, remove them 

 from the seed-bed. For the other sorts of Firs, about the 

 latter end of March or the beginning of April, according 

 to the forwardness of the season, prepare a very moderate 

 bed, in length proportioned to the quantity of seeds to be 

 sown, and, where there are frames which can be spared for 

 this purpose, they may be placed upon the bed ; but where 

 these are wanting, the bed should be cradled over with hoops, 

 that they may be covered with mats or canvass ; then plunge 

 the beds full of small pots, such as are commonly sold about 

 London for four shillings and two-pence per hundred. These 

 pots should be filled with light undunged earth, and the 

 interstices between the pots may be filled up with any other 

 earth which is nearest to the place ; then sow the seeds in 

 these pots, covering them about half an inch with the same 

 light earth. In drying winds the earth ought to be covered, 

 to prevent the moisture from being drawn off too fast, which 

 would prove hurtful to the seeds ; nor should the seeds have 

 too much wet, which would be equally injurious ; hence they 

 should be seldom watered, and never in large quantities. 

 When there is any appearance of frost at night, the bed 

 should be covered. With this management the plants will 

 appear in five or six weeks' time, when they must be care- 

 fully guarded from birds, as was before directed for the 

 common sorts, and also screened from the sun in the mid- 

 dle of the day ; but they must now have fresh air admitted 

 to them whenever the weather is favourable. They may 

 also be allowed to receive any gentle showers of rain, but 

 must not have much moisture, which rots and causes them 

 to drop. Upon the judicious care in this point depends the 

 whole success. It may seem strange to many, says Mr. 

 Miller, that I should direct the sowing of the seeds of these 

 trees, which are so very hardy, upon a hot-bed ; but from 

 many trials I have always found they have succeeded much 

 better this way than any other, for the gentle warmth of the 

 bed will not only cause the seeds to vegetate much sooner 

 than they would naturally have done in the cold ground, 



