NURSERY WORK. 53 



Nurseries. If large numbers of plants are annually needed 

 for regular planting, a permanent home nursery is profitable, 

 besides providing thoroughly acclimatised plants. Otherwise 

 plants have to be purchased from nurserymen, in which case it 

 is best to buy them as 2-year seedlings and acclimatise them in 

 a temporary nursery on part of or near the planting-ground. 

 Set here at 1 foot apart (43,560 per acre), only T V of the land 

 needs at first to be enclosed and planted ; and when they are 

 of the size desired, i|- of them can be lifed and planted out, 

 leaving the remainder at 4 by 4 ft., the pitting being done very 

 cheaply with a C- or S-conical spade. This method acclimatises 

 the plants ; means the least possible cost in transport ; enables 

 planting to take place with fresh plants supplied every half- 

 hour or hour, and to be interrupted whenever necessary 

 (weather) or convenient (if men otherwise employed) without 

 entailing loss of plants; and is cheapest, as even fencing is 

 reduced to a minimum. 



Nursery Work is of great importance, because the success of 

 planting depends, as much on well-developed and healthy plants 

 as upon a rational method of planting and a proper choice of 

 the kinds of trees suitable for the soil and situation. The 

 following are the main points to be kept in view in making and 

 working a nursery : 



1. A nursery should be on an open and airy but not exposed situation, 

 avoiding hollows and damp frosty spots, where insects and fungi are also 

 apt to abound. A northerly aspect is preferable to a hot southern ex- 

 posure, or to the east, where damage from late and early frosts and 

 drying spring winds is greatest for least damage is done, after a frosty 

 night, when the air is gradually warmed before direct sunshine falls on 

 the plants. It should be well fenced against rabbits, &c., and should have 

 a good water-supply in case of drought. 



2. A well-drained, good sandy loam is the best soil ; and it should not 

 be in rich cultivation, else the plants grow lanky and not bushy and 

 robust for planting on rough hillsides with poor soil. 



3. A square or rectangular nursery can be most conveniently divided 

 into rectangular plots and beds, and its size depends on the number, age, 



