NOTIONS ON ARTIFICIAL BESTOCKING. 211 



there with difficulty, a circumstance favourable to 

 frosts. Lastly, it is a great convenience during 

 drought to have a spring or streamlet near at hand 

 from which to water the seedlings. 



The site once fixed, the area of the nursery is 

 determined by the object for which it is wanted. If 

 it is to be a permanent one, it should be made pretty 

 large. A single nursery is better than several small 

 ones ; it is better looked after, especially if it is 

 placed next to a forester's house. But it must not 

 be so large as to render supervision difficult, and it 

 is advisable not to let it exceed five acres. If only 

 temporary nurseries are required, they may be small 

 and their number increased as wanted. No manure 

 is used in such nurseries, the mould contained in 

 the soil being sufficient (for all purposes. In the 

 majority of cases no clearing is made ; the nurseries 

 are established in glades or blanks near the spot to 

 be planted. 



It is always advantageous to fence in a nursery. 

 This is indispensable for a permanent nursery, and 

 for those in which acorns or beech-nuts are sown, 

 to protect them against wild pig. The attacks of 

 the small rodents can be avoided by sowing late in 

 the spring, just before the season of germination. 

 As for birds, so fond of conifer seeds, there is no 

 other way of keeping them off than by posting a 

 watcher armed with a gun to scare them. 



Before sowing a nursery, the soil must be culti- 

 vated and that too, deeply, in order to render it 

 light ; at the same time it must be freed from stones. 

 But in turning up the soil care must be taken not 



