PERMANENT AND TEMPORARY NURSERIES COMPARED. 139 



ways be commanded. 



Another important distinction between the two classes of nur- 

 series lies in the fact that with a permanent nursery, as it is always 

 made on a large scale and possesses every necessary appliance, in- 

 convenience or delay seldom occurs in meeting all ordinary 

 fluctuations in the demand for transplants, such as are inevitable 

 in the treatment of any forest that is under some sort of intensive 

 management; whereas with a temporary nursery, unless only year- 

 lings are required, a certain time must elapse before a sudden in- 

 creased demand can be met, while if less than the estimated number 

 of transplants are actually used, the balance is likely to go to pure 

 waste from becoming too old for use at a later period. Hence 

 temporary nurseries answer only for some definite work to be ac- 

 complished, as, for example, if so many acres are to be planted up 

 in a given manner within so many years, &c. ; they can but seldom, 

 if ever, meet the general wants that arise in the ordinary routine 

 management of a forest area that is at all extensive. 



Thus after balancing together the advantages and disadvantages 

 of the two classes of nurseries, there are left to the temporary 

 class only two advantages, viz. (1) reduced cost of transport, and 

 (2) use of the transplants almost as soon as they are lifted. And 

 consequently, whenever there is any doubt as to which kind of 

 nursery should be established, before deciding in favour of a 

 temporary one, it must first be proved, after it has been ascertain- 

 ed that sufficiently good planting material can be raised thereby, 

 (a) that saving on carriage exceeds the increased cost of raising the 

 required number of transplants, and (b) that the more assured suc- 

 cess that may be anticipated, owing to the minimised exposure of 

 the transplants between their leaving the nursery and being finally 

 put down, is sufficiently real and appreciable to compensate for the 

 extra labour, expense and inconvenience entailed by the establish- 

 ment of a new nursery or the continual change of nurseries, as the 

 case may be. 



Exceptionally a temporary nursery alone can be established in 

 mountainous regions, in which there are distinct zones of vegetation 

 due to the prevalence of distinctly different climatic influences at 

 different elevations. Each such zone will require a separate tem- 

 porary nursery situated within itself. Temporary nurseries must 

 also be used where very heavy planting work is to be executed, such 

 work, when completed, being immediately followed by a permanent 

 contraction of the artificial regeneration operations in consequence 

 of natural means being more largely employed in the sequel. In 



