CHAPTER XVIII 

 NURSERY MANAGEMENT 



363. Value of nursery stock. — From the preface 

 the extent of the nursery business in the United States 

 may be seen. The acre return in 1909 is averaged at 

 $261. Doubtless many nurseries paid less than this, and 

 probably a fair proportion paid more. If 10,000 good 

 trees can be grown to the acre and sold at an average of 

 20 cents (and they can be), the return would be $2,000, 

 which, divided by four years — two for stock growing and 

 two for rest — the income would be $500 a year. Ex- 

 penses are heavy, however, partly because nursery lands 

 usually command high rent (sometimes $100 a year), and 

 partly because of the necessary equipment and the skilled 

 labor needed in the business, as may be judged by the 

 general discussion in this volume, so there is not as much 

 money in nursery stock as may at first appear. 



364. Laying out a nursery. — Since horse cultivation is 

 necessary, nurseries should be laid out with turning 

 ground 12 f^et wide at opposite ends of the rows, and 

 cross alleys at convenient distances both for the removal 

 of stock and for labeling. In most nurseries the rows 

 vary from 100 to 300 feet long, but in large ones they are 

 sometimes a quarter of a mile long. 



365. Shelters are advisable where the prevailing winds 

 are strong. They help protect young bud and graft 

 shoots from being broken or blown off and aid the trees 

 to grow straight. Where natural shelter — a hill or a 

 wood to windward — is not available, mixed shelter belts 

 of deciduous and evergreen trees, placed beyond their root 

 reach of the nursery rows, will serve well. Low grounds, 

 though sheltered, are not desirable because usually 

 frosty. Everything that will cause snow drifts among 

 the stock should be avoided. 



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