NOTIONS ON AETIFICIAL EESTOCKING. 219 



soaked. In this manner the surface is never washed 

 away and the permeability of the soil is constantly 

 maintained. 



As in the cultivated portion of a nursery, the soil 

 is thoroughly loosened, a consequent subsidence of 

 the ground cannot be avoided, by which the seedlings 

 may be laid bare as low down as the roots. The 

 same result may be produced by frost. To remedy 

 this evil it is sufficient to spread mould or very fine 

 earth until the plants are covered as high as before. 



In light or limestone soils this laying bare of the 

 seedlings by the frost is often fatal, and the best 

 plan to avoid it is to place straw or dry leaves on the 

 trenches at the beginning of winter. This bedding 

 is removed in the spring after the frosts are over. 



The operation of weeding consists in the removal 

 of the herbaceous vegetation that may have come 

 up along with the seedlings. Grasses are dangerous 

 because they grow more rapidly than the latter, their 

 tufted roots take complete possession of the ground 

 and their stalks form a close, and therefore all the 

 more harmful, cover. When the term of their 

 maturity arrives, they seed abundantly. After the 

 season of vegetation is over, they lie on the young 

 plants and smother them. Hence they should be 

 got rid of as soon as they make their appearance, 

 and especially in rich or moist soils. 



If the soil of the nursery has been previously 

 prepared by a crop of plants which require weeding 

 (such as the potato, Indian corn, &c.) there is little 

 to fear on this score during the first year. The 

 danger is still further diminished if the trenches are 



