(24) 



a point below the insertion of the graft , or 

 from a tree which had not submitted to this 

 process. 



AH these operations are performed at the 

 close of winter or the opening of spring. 

 The length of time which the young plants 

 should remain in the nursery, varies with 

 their size and strength ; but it rarely exceeds 

 four or five years. During this period the 

 ground should be kept mellow and clean , 

 and occasionally watered in the summer, if 

 the season is dry. But this indulgence should 

 not be prodigally bestowed : vegetable as 

 well as animal and moral life , is susceptible 

 of habitude. For this reason it is also an im- 

 portant precept in the formation of nurse- 

 v ries, to select a soil analogous to that in 

 which the trees are to reside. If the young 

 plant is lavishly supplied with nutritious 

 juices, its pores become distended, its fibres 

 gross, and its vegetation luxuriant. Super- 

 fluous enjoyments easily become necessaries 

 of life ; hence , when it is removed to a dif- 

 ferent scene , and condemned to struggle for 

 existence in an ungrateful soil, it loses heart 

 and perishes where it might have been long- 



