THE CULTURE OF CONIFERS. i. 

 By a. H. Hill, Dundee, III, 



Delivered before the Society, January 18, 1919. 



It is indeed a pleasure to be invited to appear before you for 

 the discussion of so interesting a subject as The Culture of Conifers. 

 It is a subject near to my heart, and my chosen life work, on the 

 success of which, in a practical and commercial way, I depend for 

 my daily bread; therefore, you will pardon me if, in the paper I am 

 about to read, I seem to rely on plain nursery language, rather than 

 technical phrases and descriptions. 



I wish to say that I am indebted to my father, D. Hill, for such 

 knowledge of fundamentals and practice that I have been enabled 

 to acquire through many pleasant years of association with him 

 in the work of propagating conifers. 



In the treatment of this subject it is found that the operations 

 are divided into four general divisions which will be taken up in the 

 following order : 



1. Seedlings. 3. Grafts. 



2. Cuttings. 4. Layers and Divisions. 



1. Seedlings. 



In the growing of conifer seedlings, generally speaking, the first 

 point of importance in mapping out plans for production on a com- 

 mercial scale is to locate a reliable and unfailing source of seed. 

 It is easy enough to talk about producing a million little conifer 

 seedlings, but in order to make this possible there must be seed 

 of good quality and quantity. At first thought, it would seem 

 easy to secure the seed necessary, when one thinks of the native 

 evergreen forests with their range covering the whole country. 



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