266 THE NURSERY. [MARCK, 



glasses, and so treat them for two years, without removing them 

 out of the seed-box. Then, early in April, transplant them care- 

 fully into separate pots, treating them all this time, and for two or 

 three years more, as you do green-house plants ; after which $ turn 

 some of them with the earth out of the pots, and plant them in dry 

 warm exposures. 



The Pinus Pinea, or Italian Stone Pine, grows to a considerable 

 height, and is cultivated chiefly for its nuts and the beauty of its fo- 

 liage. In Italy and the southern parts of Europe, the kernels are 

 frequently served up in deserts during the winter season, and are as- 

 sweet as Almonds, but have a slight flavour of turpentine. The 

 cones are generally four or five inches long, and when for some 

 time, exposed to the sun, they open and drop out the nuts ; which, 

 should be sown towards the latter end of March, in drills, and cover- 

 ed about half or three quarters of an inch deep ; when they have 

 had one, or two years growth, in these rows, cut their tap-roots as 

 directed for walnuts in page 263, and the next season, you may 

 transplant them, about the first week in April, either into nursery- 

 rows, at greater distances, or, where they are to remain. 



The Pinus Cimbra-, or Siberian Stone Pine. There is a variety 

 of this, that grow in Switzerland, and higher up the Alps than any 

 other Pine, and is found on elevations where the Larch will not 

 grow. The stones are shorter than those of the Italian Pine, and 

 full as thick. The wood is short, having scarcely any grain, and 

 very fit for the carver. The peasants of the Tyrol, where this tree 

 abounds, make various sorts of carved works with the wood, which 

 they dispose of in Switzerland, among the common people, who 

 are fond of the resinous smell which it exhales. Both the varieties 

 may be cultivated in the same manner, as directed for the Italian 

 Stone Pine. 



All the other species and varieties, of Pines and Firs, for which 

 see the general Catalogues annexed to this work, may be success- 

 fully raised in the following manner. 



Being provided with good fresh seeds, for on this every thing 

 depends ; prepare for their reception, as early in the sjiring as your 

 ground will work free and light, and pulverize finely in the working, 

 beds three' or four feet wide, of rich, loamy ground, by no means 

 subject to burn or become parched with the summer heats ; then 

 sow the seeds on the surface so thick, as that you may expect, after 

 all reasonable allowances for defective seeds, &c. at least^ a plant on 

 every inch square of the ground, or at the rate of a pound of good 

 seed to a bed three feet and a half wide and sixty long. The sowing 

 of them so thick, is indispensible, for unless they completely cover 

 the surface they will, if not carefully shaded, be destroyed in their 

 infant state, by the summer heat ; early sowing is also necessary, 

 for they have nothing to apprehend from subsequent frosts, that 

 their roots may be established before the heat overtakes them. 

 After the seeds are sown, sift over the smaller sized kinds, about a 

 quarter of an inch of fine, rich, light mould, and over the larger, 

 nearly half an inch; then place over the beds, nets made for that 

 purpose, or any old small mashed fishingnets, to keep off thebirds> 



