CHAPTER II. 



NURSERIES- 



Whatever method we adopt for the creation or regeneration of 

 a forest deserving nf the name, the establishment of a nursery is 

 indispensable. If planting is resorted to, the necessity of a nur- 

 sery in which to raise the transplants is obvious. If other methods 

 are employed, then however successful natural regeneration may 

 have been, or however conscientious or skilful the care and precau- 

 tions taken in executing direct sowings, there will always be spots 

 of less or greater magnitude in which seedlings will die off or refuse 

 to come up, or in which stools will be unproductive, or in which a 

 given valuable species will be absent or insufficiently represented, 

 in which, in short, the early establishment of plants of a certain 

 species and of a given size and vigour will be urgently required. 

 In all these cases a nursery must be at hand from which a supply 

 of such plants is immediately available. In a nursery all the plants 

 receive individual attention, and it is there alone that they can be 

 raised under the most favourable conditions possible for any re-- 

 quired purpose. How to establish a nursery is, therefore, the first 

 question that requires to be answered. 



Besides this, from the point of view of the student himself, it is^ 

 undoubtedly preferable first of all to study the production and early 

 growth of forest trees under the conditions obtaining in a nursery,, 

 where those conditions are completely under our control and may 

 be made as favourable as possible for the purpose in hand, before 

 passing on to the study of their production and early development 

 under the abnormal conditions obtaining in a forest, which condi- 

 tions it is not in our power to. regulate or modify except to a 

 comparatively slight extent. 



This being so, we will (1) enquire into the characters which 

 constitute a good transplant, (2) distinguish between permanent 

 and temporary nurseries, (3) formulate general directions < with 

 regard to the collection, storage and testing of seeds, (4) give a 

 short account of the principal manures suitable for forest purposes, 

 and (5) describe how to establish and maintain nurseries of either 

 class. 



