194 LEGISLATION ON TOERBNTS. 



in order not to leave the plants for more than five or at most seven 

 days in the boxes. On arrival, the plants are immediately unbound 

 and sorted. 

 " Remarks, iic. 



" It is by the spongeoles or extremities of the fibres that the roots draw 

 from the earth the nourishment of the plant. It is therefore in the 

 highest degree necessary to protect these delicate organs. For this 

 purpose the bath of tempered clay is a very useful precaution. 

 Before putting the plants into the earth, it will be well to leave the 

 roots nearly 24 hours in urine. 

 " This operation has the effect of singularly reviving the vegetative 

 power of the plant. 

 " To show the importance of the services that the nurseries are expected 

 to render, the conference at Clermont cited the results of the nursery of 

 Arpajon, formed scarcely two years before. It appeared from the accounts, 

 kept with care in this nursery, that it would contain 32,489,000 plants of 

 various kinds, of the value at a commercial valuation of 159,622 francs. 



" The details given render necessary a similar circumstantial account of 

 the observations made by the agents at the conferences at Foix and Carpen- 

 tras on the subject of nurseries. 



" The principal points of the discussion, with those which have called 

 forth differing opinions, will alone be requisite. 



" At Foix, the agents considered that the operation of transplanting is 

 too expensive, and requires too great an extent of land, to be followed. A 

 method of taking up plants analogous to that which has been above des- 

 cribed, in the opinions and instructions of the Administrations, seems to be 

 almost sufficient to take the place of transplanting. 



" Watering appears necessary to be practised with moderation, on account 

 of the expense which it causes. At Foix and at Carpentras, the observations 

 relative to the digging up and packing of plants, as well as the precautions 

 to be taken at their despatch and receipt, do not differ from those presented 

 at the conference at Clermont, and reproduced above. At Carpentras the 

 sowing in furrows has seemed, in all points of view, that deserving to be 

 preferred for nurseries. The quantity of seed necessary to be used has 

 been estimated at 10 or 15 kilogrammes per are for the resinous plants, at 

 1 or 2 hectolitres for the oak, and at 10 or 15 kilogrammes for the acacia 

 and ailanthus. 



" The agents have unanimously expressed the opinion that it is advisable 

 to diminish the sheltering fences as soon as the plants acquire strength, and 

 that it is necessary to make them always sufficiently low to enable the light 

 to reach easily the plants. The transplanting, which appears to the agents 

 at the conference at Carpentras indispensable for the oak, is considered less 

 necessary for pines and the Norway fir. 



" Watering, if not indispensable, is at least useful to the resinous trees, 

 and it must, when once commenced, be assiduously pursued. 



" The agents of the three conferences have presented plans of a register 

 for the record of the plants ready for sending out, and those sent out. 

 " Remarks, &c. 



" The form to be adopted temporarily for this register is the following, 

 which must be tried upon formulas prepared in writing in each 

 conservatory till the time when a definitive model, made from ex- 

 periments, shall be adopted ; — 



