BfeDjrfl OF OONPEEENOBS IN 1862. 193 



fragments, containing two, three, or four plants, to be put into the 

 place together, are broken off, and at least one of these almost 

 always grows. 

 " To obtain hardier plants more likely to take root under severer condi- 

 tions, it is necessary to wait nearly three years, and to have them trans- 

 planted. The^ design of this operation is to place the young plants in 

 circumstances favourable for the development of the fibrous root. It is 

 employed for plants of a year old, and should be done in spring, in order 

 not to expose the young subjects to the risk of being raised above the ground 

 by the effects of frost. 



" It has been attempted to avoid the expense of this difficult and costly 

 operation. As regards the oak, one agent has mentioned a process which 

 it may not be uninteresting to bring under the notice of the agents. This 

 process consists in artificially causing the acorns to germinate during the 

 winter, to cut off the radicle and to sow in the seed-beed the acorn thus 

 mutilated. It has- been remarked, that the extinguishing of the radicle led 

 to the formation of lateral roots, and to suppress the growth of the descend- 

 ing taproot. 

 " Hemarhs, die. 



" Transplanting does not appear to be always necessary. In the 

 nurseries it is practised at different periods of the plants growth. 

 If, when the plants are required, the best and most fibrous-rooted 

 alone are made choice of, the removal of these will have the effect 

 of relieving the others, and so favouring their development ; in this 

 way plants of different stages of development may be successively 

 removed, and this kind of periodical thinning has for its result, to 

 permit the plants of inferior growth to acquire sufficient strength. 

 This removal is facilitated by the arrangement of the plants being 

 sown in furrows on the flat beds. When it is necessary to thin the 

 plants, there is dug along the furrow a hollow into which the plants 

 are turned ; the proper choice is then very easily made, and the 

 plants remaining in the furrow are easily re-arranged. Finally, 

 the operation of transplanting can sometimes be replaced by 

 the cutting off of the root in the ground, by the use of the 

 spade used at Hagenau (coupe-pivot), which ends in a diamond- 

 shaped edge. 

 " The cutting of the root has for its effect to favour the development 

 of a fibrous root This economical and beneficial operation, however, 

 can only be practised in the earths into which the edge of the spade 

 easily penetrates. It has not been attempted in the case of resinous 

 trees ; it would not be without interest to make some attempts in 

 this direction. 

 " The sowings in the nurseries are exposed to ravages by rats, field mice, 

 mole crickets, moles, birds, <feo. It does not appear to be necessary to enter 

 into the details of the methods employed to combat these various enemies. 

 The methods followed, moreover, have succeeded only imperfectly, ■ and it 

 will be necessary to devise others more efficacious. To prepare the plants 

 for sending away, a dry day must be chosen, the digging must be done with 

 the spade, 100 plants are united in one clod, the roots of which are immersed 

 in a bath of well-tempered clayey earth, and they are covered with dry 

 moss ; they are then placed in layers in a box with open bars, the spars 

 of which are covered with dry straw. A rapid conveyance is chosen, 



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