PLANTING. 23 



removed to a poor soil. I do not quite agree with 

 this view, believing, rather, that the stronger and 

 more vigorous a plant is, the better will it be able 

 to cope with hardships ; but some two or three 

 weeks before a plant is removed, it is desirable to 

 check the water supply to prevent the formation 

 of too succulent shoots, and this remark is espe- 

 cially applicable to transplanting from a richer to a 

 poorer soil. 



The beds being prepared, the seed may be sown 

 broadcast, and covered in either with a small garden 

 rake, or by lightly sprinkling fine mould over the 

 surface; but a better mode, because more convenient 

 for removing the plants, is to sow thickly in lines 

 6 to 12 in. apart. 



These lines are trenches half an inch to an inch 

 deep, according to the size of the seed, small seed 

 being always very lightly covered ; but I get the 

 best results from ridge -and-furrow beds, sowing on 

 the top of the ridge. 



With the exception of oaks and walnuts, which 

 an occasionally transplanted three or four times, 

 and allowed to attain a height of 8 to 12 ft. before 

 they are removed to the forest, plants are seldom 

 kept more than three years in the nursery ; but 

 three-year old plants in a European nursery rarely 

 exceed 18 in. in height. Seedlings of one year 

 old are sometimes transplanted to their place in 



