NURSERY MANAGEMENT 57 



Time of sowing. Wych-elm seed should be sown as soon 

 as collected in June. Birch seed is usually collected and sown 

 in August The seeds of hornbeam, ash, hawthorn, lime, yew, 

 and holly should be mixed with sand in a pit and should be 

 sown along with the sand in the second spring after collection. 

 The sand and seed in the pit should be turned every three 

 months. This treatment is necessary to rot off the outer 

 husk of the seed, and it is only a waste of space to sow direct 

 on the seed-bed, as the majority of the seeds will not germinate 

 till the second year. 1 Large seeds like those of oak and chest- 

 nut may be sown in autumn, but they are then liable to be 

 eaten by mice or birds. These seeds and those of all other 

 species not mentioned above, are best kept till the following 

 spring in an airy loft, being turned every now and then ; they 

 are then sown in April or the beginning of May. Old seed 

 which has been in store for longer than the period indicated 

 above should not be used, as it will have lost its germinative 

 power. 



Pricking out. In certain cases when the seedlings have 

 been in the seed-beds two years they are transplanted direct 

 into the woods. Such cases are few, and usually the plants 

 are moved or pricked out into another part of the nursery and 

 are placed in what are called nursery lines ; the plants 

 themselves being now called transplants. 



Certain distinctive names are given to plants according to 

 the number of years they have stood in the seed-beds and in 

 the nursery lines. Thus * two-year-two ' plants are those 

 which have been two years in the seed-bed and two years in 

 the nursery lines ; this sized plant is probably the most com- 

 monly used for planting into the woods. If three years old 

 plants are used for planting out, one-year-two plants are 

 stronger and have a better root system than two-year-one 

 plants, as one year in the nursery lines is not sufficient for 

 the plant to take advantage of the increased space given to it. 



The reason for transplanting from the seed-bed to the 

 1 But see last paragraph on p. 53. 



