4<4 ^^'^ Gardener's New Director, 



There are four or five different kinds of this tree, bof 

 as the Hop kind and the common fort are mod ufed, it 

 is needlefs to mention the reft. 



The Afti. 



THERE are fix different kinds of this tree; but I 

 fliai here treat only of thofe which grow well. 

 The common Afh is propagated only by feeds, called 

 Afhen-keys. This feed fhould be gathered when the 

 leaves drop, in a dry day, and laid up in a heap to fweat; 

 this is a great advantage to their vegetation; for I have 

 often obferved, that the feeds ufed this way have fprung 

 the firfl feafon, when the other feeds, which have been 

 kept dry in lofts, did not fpring till the fecond year af- 

 ter they had been fown. The ground in winch you 

 defign to fow them, fhould, the preceding fimimer, be 

 turned, and made very fine ; and you may take a crop 

 of Turnips from it, M^hich alfo will help to open it, and 

 they will be off time enough for you to fow your feeds. 

 In the month of No'vember^ fow thefe beds very thick 

 with the feeds, and the following fpring and fummer 

 keep them clear from weeds; and if the weather is very 

 dry, water them, even although your plants are not 

 come above the ground. Next fpring they will appear, 

 and in fummer it will be proper to prepare nurfery beds 

 for them, in a piece of good rich ground ; for theymufb 

 ftand no longer than the following autumn ; becaufe if 

 they grow well, being thick fown, they foon would 

 choak one another. Your nurfery muft be of the fame 

 kind of ground with that wherein they were fown; for 

 it is certain this tree thrives beft in good ground, though 

 It will grow almofi in any foil. When you are to tranf- 

 plant them, before you draw them, you muft loofen 

 them with the fnade ; for as they fhoot a ftrong root 

 deep into the ground, they would be in hazard of break- 

 ing, if they were not thus loofened. When you have 

 taken them up, you may ftiorten the ftrong radical, or 

 top roots; but be very fparing in pruning their lateral 

 fibres. After their removal, you may plant them in 



rows I 



