PRACTICAL FORESTRY. 



with which large plants can be removed for a short distance 

 is also much in their favour, but it is next to impossible 

 to retain this where packing and transit have to be resorted to. 



It is well known that too sudden a change from rich, 

 well-sheltered nursery borders to bare, exposed hi 11- sides 

 often proves fatal to young plants ; and, when we consider 

 that few public nurseries are at a greater elevation than 

 about 300 feet, the necessity of proprietors rearing their 

 own stock, whose plantations are, perhaps, upwards of 1,000 

 feet above sea-level, will the more readily be seen. There 

 are certain difficulties to contend with in planting high 

 lying ground, more especially if the soil is poor and thin, 

 and the situation exposed, and in these cases the advantages 

 of using hardy plants that have frequently been transplanted 

 in a well-chosen home nursery at a fair altitude are only too 

 perceptible, especially when contrasted with others that 

 have been grown under more favourable circumstances and 

 in a sheltered position. Some plants seem better adapted 

 than others for this removal, but in the majority of cases 

 the shock sustained by transferring from low-lying ground 

 to that at a great elevation is only too apparent, and 

 from which the plants seldom recover. 



Of late years in particular, a good deal of comment has 

 taken place as to the necessity of rearing trees from seed 

 sown on the site of the future plantation, and although the 

 suggestion has many points in its favour, still artificial plant- 

 ing is better adapted to the wants of our country, and is 

 not at all likely to be superseded by artificial reproduction, 

 which is more fitted for countries differently situated from 

 our own. 



The nursery treatment ot plants is, therefore, sure to 

 remain a prominent feature of British forestry, and 

 this being the case, the soil and situation, as well as the 

 most successful treatment of these, with a view to pro- 

 ducing plants suitable for the positions they are intended to 

 occupy, will require due consideration. This will vary much 

 according to the situation of the estate and ground to be 

 planted. In choosing the site of a home nursery, a great 

 deal will depend on the general elevation and exposure of 



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