146 THE NURSERY, [FEB. 



cautious in that point, and if the earth of your bed is not light and 

 dry enough for this purpose, you must carry as much as will cover 

 the seeds from some dry compost heap, or some quarter of the 

 garden where it can be found in a Suitable condition. 



On examining your haws, if you find the earth in which they are 

 mixed, any way clogged with two much moisture, so that the parts 

 and seeds would not separate freely in the act of sowing ; mix 

 therewith a sufficient quantity of slack-lime, or wood-ashes, to ac- 

 complish that end. 



Having every thing in readiness, and your ground well dug, and 

 raked effectually as you proceeded in the digging, still presuming 

 that it is in the best possible state of preparation, lay it out into four 

 feet wide beds, leaving twelve or fourteen inches of an alley be- 

 tween each, and with the back of the rake, push off into these al- 

 leys, about three quarters of an inch of the fine raked surface of 

 the beds, one half of each bed to the one side, and the other to 

 the opposite ; this done, sow your haws thereon, earth and all as 

 they had lain, so thick that you may expect a thousand plants at 

 least, after every resonable allowance for faulty or imperfect seeds, 

 (there being many of these,) on every three or four yards of your 

 beds; (I have often had that number upon as many feet) then with 

 a spade or shovel, cast the earth out of the alleys evenly over the beds, 

 covering the seeds not more than three quarters of an inch deep, 

 and not more than half an inch, if the earth be any way stiff; after 

 which, rake the tops of the beds -very lightly, taking care not to dis- 

 turb the seeds, in order to take off the lumps and to give a neat 

 appearance to the work. 



The busines being thus finished for the present, should you at a 

 future period perceive, especially when the plants are beginning to 

 appear above ground, any stiffness on the surface, occasioned by dry 

 weather, give the beds frequent, but gentle waterings, till all those 

 innocent prisoners are released from their bondage, after which 

 you will have pleasure and profit in their progress. 



But this is not all ; the whole of your former trouble will be 

 totally lost, unless you are particularly careful in keeping these 

 beds effectually free from weeds, from the moment the plants appeal- 

 above ground, till they are fit to be planted in hedge-rows, and even 

 then, until they have arrived at a sufficient size, not to be injured 

 by such. 



It was an old practice, to sow these seeds as soon as ripe, covering 

 them about an inch deep ; but the loss of the ground during the 

 long period in which they lie dormant, the trouble and expense 

 of weeding them all that time, the numbers pulled up and exposed 

 to animals of various sorts, and I may say the exposure of the 

 whole to mice, squirrels, See. have very justly induced to the 

 abandonment of that mode of culture. 



Indeed, they maybe sown with considerable safety, the November 

 twelve months after they are ripe, being previously prepared as 

 before directed, there is no impediment in their way at that season, 

 but their long exposure to the depredations of micelle* which are 

 extremely fond of their kernels ; as to frost they value it not. 



