68 THE NURSERY. [JAN. 



till wanted, whereby to form the head in a regular spreading growth 

 for the intended purpose of garden trees, which in the public nur- 

 series in particular should always be ready in proper training to supply 

 those who may wish to have their espaliers, &c., covered as soon as 

 possible by means of such ready trained trees. 



A similar training, both for wall and espalier fruit-trees, may be 

 practised to some principal sorts in the nursery rows in the open 

 quarters of ground by arranging their branches in a spreading man- 

 ner, to stakes placed for that purpose. 



But for standard fruit-trees, they should be trained with a clean 

 single stem, five or six feet for full standards, by cutting off all lateral 

 shoots arising below ; half standards trained with a three or four feet 

 stem, and dwarf standards in proportion, by the same means ; and 

 as to the heads of the standards, it may be proper in some to have 

 the first immediate shoots from the graft or bud when a year old 

 pruned short in spring to procure several laterals, in order to form a 

 fuller spread of branches, proceeding regularly together from near the 

 summit of the stem that the head may advance in a more regular 

 branchy growth. 



Forest-trees, in general, should be encouraged to form straight 

 clean single stems, by occasional trimming off the largest lateral 

 branches, which also promote the leading top-shoot in aspiring 

 straight and faster in height ; always suffering that part of each tree 

 to shoot at full length, that is, not to top it, unless, however, where 

 the stem divides into forks, to trim off the weakest, and leave the 

 straightest and strongest shoot or branch to shoot out at its proper 

 length to form the aspiring top, as above. 



The different sorts of shrubs may either be suffered to branch out 

 in their own natural way, except just regulating very disorderly 

 growths, or some may be trained with single clean stems from about 

 a foot to two or three high, according as you shall think proper with 

 respect to the sorts or the purposes for which you design them in the 

 shrubbery ; but many shrubs appear the most agreeable when per- 

 mitted to shoot out laterally all the way, so as to be branchy or 

 feathered to the bottom. 



Each species of fruit-trees, as soon as grafted or budded, should 

 have all its different varieties numbered, by placing large flat-sided 

 sticks at the ends of the rows, for which purpose some nurserymen 

 use the spokes of old coach wheels, or anything about that size of 

 any durable wood, painting or marking the numbers thereon, 1, 2, 3, 

 &c., on different sticks, entering the numbers in the nursery book, 

 with the name of the varieties to which the number-sticks are 

 placed ; whereby you can at all times readily have recourse to the 

 sorts wanted. 



The same method may be practised to any other trees, shrubs, or 

 herbaceous plants, especially the varieties of particular species, when 

 they are numerous, as in many of the flowery tribe, such as auriculas, 

 carnations, tulips, anemones, ranunculuses, and the like. 



With respect to watering the nursery plants, this may be very re- 

 quisite in dry hot weather in spring and summer to seed beds, and 

 tender seedling plants while young, and when first planted out, till 



