PREPARATION OF NURSERY GROUND 71 



duction to a satisfactory tree. Drainage contributes notably to 

 the warmth of the soil. Exposure is also of importance. Plenty 

 of sunshine and protection from cold winds are to be secured. 

 Sometimes a little elevation is desirable. It would be a serious 

 mistake to seek moist, low land if the piece lies at the bottom of a 

 little valley or depression where the cold air settles during the 

 night and frosts are frequent. In such cases choose higher ground. 

 Of course, in broad, open valleys there is not this objection, for 

 such seasonable frosts as may be expected there are not injurious 

 to deciduous nursery stock. The greatest nurseries in the State 

 are m the open valleys, not on the lowest ground, however, in all 

 cases, but on what would be called good, rich valley land. There 

 are, however, situations in the thermal belts in which the tempera- 

 ture does not fall low enough to check growth of deciduous trees 

 and cause the leaves to drop. In such cases it has been found de- 

 sirable to select lower and colder ground for the nursery of 

 deciduous trees. 



Preparation or Nursery Ground. The best preparation for nur- 

 sery ground is the growth, the previous season, of a cultivated or 

 hoed crop. This will secure frequent working of the soil, thorough 

 pulverization of the clods, etc. The produce of the hoed crop 

 should thus pay the cost of putting the land in good condition, at 

 least. Where the retention of moisture is an object, as it really is 

 in some parts of the State where the annual rainfall is sometimes 

 small and no facilities for irrigation provided, it will perhaps pay 

 better in the end to keep the land in bare fallow during the previous 

 summer; but there must be frequent and thorough cultivation, 

 keeping the surface always mellow, or more moisture will be lost 

 by evaporation than a hoed crop would require for its growth. 

 Properly cultivated fallow soil will have moisture within a few 

 inches of the surface, while unworked soil adjoining will be baked 

 hard and dry to a depth of several feet. During the winter imme- 

 diately preceding planting, the green stuff should be allowed to 

 grow for a time, but should be plowed under before it gets high 

 enough to interfere with perfect turning of smooth furrows. The 

 decay of this green crop is of advantage to the soil. Another plow- 

 ing in the spring, and a thorough harrowing, will leave the ground 

 in good condition to receive the pits or root grafts, as the case 

 may be. In this plowing for nursery there should be deep work 

 done and subsoiling, as will be more fully set forth under the head 

 of preparing land for orchard, to which the reader is referred. 



Growth of Seedlings for the Nursery. The two chief ways of 

 producing fruit trees are, first, from seedlings grown on the spot; 

 second, from buds and root grafts upon stock imported from the 

 East or from abroad. First, as to the growth of seedlings : 



It is usual to take seeds from sources where they can be collected 



