ON SELECTING NURSERY PLANTS. 51 
hard soil, the plants have very much the appearance of the 
White American species.—(For further details on this subject, 
see the article on the various species of SPRUCE FIR.) 
I have now said enough to show the mistakes that are 
most likely to arise in selecting plants of a few of the most 
common kinds of the Conifere. Respecting many of the 
other kinds of this tribe, we depend almost entirely on foreign 
countries for the supply of seed; and although there is no 
doubt that a great difference exists in the hardiness of the 
produce of the seeds of the various kinds grown in their 
native heights, compared with those from seeds produced in 
the lower and warmer districts, yet these circumstances, not- 
withstanding their importance, cannot be easily controlled, 
and afford no choice in selecting newly introduced kinds in 
a nursery. 
It is of great importance to obtain plants grown from a 
good stock, or from the most approved trees of their species. 
For several years I cultivated the variety of oak known as 
Q. robur pedunculata, This tree yields the best description 
of oak timber. It also attais to as great a size as any other 
variety of the British oak; although when in the nursery the 
sessile variety generally gives the stronger plants, as of the two 
its acorns are the larger. I could not, however, obtain a 
better price for the sort selected than for those grown pro- 
miscuously ; and as there are intermediate sorts between the 
two, the difference is not very important, and the kinds are 
now seldom grown apart. 
In selecting cak plants from the seed-hed, there is commonly 
a considerable difference in their size, unless the very small 
acorns have been sifted out and not sown. 
In transplanting young oaks from the seed-bed, those very 
inferior in size should be rejected, as, although they are trans- 
planted, they generally continue comparatively dwarfish, even 
with the best treatment, in good soil. 
In making choice of hardwood plants of any sort, good 
roots are as conducive to their success as good tops, and much 
more so with oaks, beeches, and birches, and with all sorts 
