WOODS AND PLANTATIONS. 355 



plants he may require for forest operations, unless the number be very 

 small. Where the woods and plantations are extensive, a forester will 

 have quite sufficient to attend to in his forest duties without entering into 

 the details of a nursery establishment ; but still I consider it economical 

 and a part of good management to have a small extent of ground kept 

 under certain kinds of trees for the use of the estate. One great advan- 

 tage in having such a home-nursery is, that when good large plants are 

 wanted for any particular purpose, they can be reared in the nursery to 

 any required height, and then removed to their final situation. Public 

 nurserymen do not usually give forest-trees much space in their grounds, 

 either between the plants or between the rows ; and in consequence the 

 plants are often drawn up to a height which makes them extremely 

 slender for their age, and their roots want that amount of fibre which is 

 necessary for their success. 



This, therefore, can be avoided in a home-nursery ; as the plants can 

 be given ample space in the rows and also between the rows, when 

 they will grow strong and bushy with good roots. 



A home-nursery is also the best place for rearing specimen trees pre- 

 vious to such being planted out in the plantations. We have reared 

 and transplanted many thousands of the rare pines from our home- 

 nursery with very marked success. They have generally been removed 

 when of a large size, and when it would have been dangerous to have 

 done so from a public nursery at a distance. 



We have also found a home-nursery highly useful in rearing plants 

 to a large size for filling up blanks or empty spaces in plantations ; 

 and on several occasions we have been able to make small plantations 

 to give immediate effect by removing large-sized plants from the nur- 

 sery. This is often wanted on landed estates ; and it will be found very 

 useful, indeed, to have a number of large-sized, well-shaped, and good- 

 rooted plants at command when required. 



As an example of the utility of a home-nursery, I will mention 

 one instance. In the summer of 1866, a small clump of trees on the 

 Wass estate, consisting of hardwoods and larch, was nearly destroyed by 

 rabbits. The larch, especially, were eaten over. As it lay close to one 

 of the drives, and was an eyesore in its dilapidated state, we had a 

 number of good larch-plants removed from the home-nursery, in the 

 month of August. We chose a moist day for the planting, and lifted 

 each plant with as great a ball of earth as possible. The plants were 

 attended to for a few days, by watering them ; and the result was, 

 we had not a single death amongst them, and they have grown well 

 since. 



The extent of laud required for a home-nursery must of course vary 



