The Farm Nursery. 67. 
tables would not always be suitable for the young trees, which, 
to do well, must have favorable conditions to send the roots to 
considerable depth. Good spots are often found in the rich 
loam along the banks of creeks, as in such situations one finds 
generally a deep alluvium, well drained by the creek. But such 
situations, if liable to overflow, should be rejected because stand- 
ing water is not good for trees, and because the soil will be apt 
to be soaked with water and inaccessible just at the time when 
the trees should be lifted for transplanting to orchard. 
It is not always possible to find an ideal nursery spot on 
every ranch, but still trees may be well grown on less favorable 
places if attention is given to correcting natural defects. For 
exainple, if the soil be naturally heavy, it may be improved 
somewhat by repeated plowing and cultivation during the year 
before starting the trees. If it be an adobe, its mechanical con- 
dition may be greatly improved by thc application of a top 
dressing of lime at the rate of six hundred to one thousand 
pounds of lime to the acre. For this purpose “lime waste,” 
which contains both lime and wood ashes, can be had cheaply, 
at the kilns. Old plaster which may have been left from house 
repairs is excellent. Even builders’ lime would not be very 
expensive, for but little would be required ior so small a plot of 
jand as a farm nursery would need to cover. The lime will 
increase the amount of plant food in a heavy soil as well as ren- 
der it more friable. Another way in which a small area of heavy 
soil may be improved is by the addition of sand. A few loads 
of sand, if it can be had near by, will remove the tendency to 
crack, and will act as mulch to prevent evaporation of moisture. 
If the soil be very loose and subject to too rapid drying out, the 
remedy will be moderate irrigation during the summer, but it 
should cease early enough to allow the young trees to ripen their 
wood before the frosts of autumn. Mulches of various light, 
fine materials, rotted straw and the like, may be used to advan- 
tage among the young seedlings in preventing drying out of 
the soil, if the plot is to be hand-worked, but such materials are 
apt to be in the way of neat, thorough work with the horse. A 
mulch of sand, if available, is not open to this objection. 
In choosing soil for a nursery, a piece of land which has 
been in cultivation for garden or field crops is to be preferred 
over a newly-cleared piece. It is often the case that soil from 
which old stumps or shoots have recently been removed has 
become soured from the processes of decay in the dead wood. 
Although the deposits of humus from decay of woody fiber tends 
to enrich the soil, afterwards certain acids are formed if the land 
lies without cultivation. These are not favorable to the growth 
of young roots, and a crop to which as much time is given as 
