100 



"Seed-beds and nursery rows are, all in all, to be advised, and they are generally 

 used for seedling trees. Seed-beds are usually four feet wide and of any convenient 

 length, and four inches above the surrounding level. For evergreen and larch seeds, 

 which, by the way, ought not to be attempted by any one not trained in the nursery busi- 

 ness, shades are used in the form of lath hurdles, with openings of less width than the 

 strips, and generally, in addition to the hurdles, windscreens around the beds, while some 

 nurserymen build arbors over their seed-beds, and such seed is generally put in broadcast, 

 covering by sifting on sandy earth. But for any of our native tree-seeds, shading wiU 

 hardly be necessary. 



"Drills across the beds one foot apart may be planted, or drills, twenty to twenty- 

 eight inches apart, may be made of any length, and on the general level, and the seeds 

 planted at the rate of twenty to forty to the foot. Culture, while plants are young, 

 should be by hand, running a hand wheel-hoe, and hand-weeding in the drill, if necessary; 

 but when the trees have attained some growth, a steady horse may be used, and if the 

 nursery is made of long rows, of course horse labour is better employed than if it is in 

 short rows. Most of the native trees will be fit at one year old to remove to permanent 

 plantation, and if to be so used, should be dug in the fall, and stored by burying, or in 

 cellar, ready for early planting the next spring." 



Evergreen Planting in Nebraska. 



As to the proper season for planting evergreens, the author of an article in the 

 Fourth Report of the Nebraska State Board of Agriculture, remarks : — 



" The exact time when evergreens should be moved has excited much discussion, and 

 there is a wide difference of opinion as to the proper season. My experience after 

 repeated trials, is that just when the buds first begin to swell in the spring is the time ; 

 while those removed after they have grown an inch were mostly failures. While a de- 

 ciduous tree, when planted, is without leaves, an evergreen has an abundance of foliage to 

 wive off evaporation. Just at the time mentioned, the spongioles have commenced vigor- 

 ous action ; the resinous sap is thinned, and what is needed to secure a new growth is care- 

 ful handling ; see that the earth, which should be in close contact with the roots, is finely 

 pulverized, and avoid by all means giving too much water. To insure the growth of any 

 tree a certain amount of warmth in the soil is necessary. This cannot be found when the 

 planting is done early in the spring, and in consequence the fibres lose their vitality and 

 are unable to draw the required nourishment. Advantage should be taken, of cloudy 

 days, when both roots and tops are not exposed to the hot sun or drying winds, and, if 

 the ground is moist, sufficient water only is needed to settle the earth about the roots, 

 and then mulching to some distance round the tree will retain the moisture and keep 

 down the weeds." 



Rules of E. Feerand on Evergreen Culture (Nebraska). 



Suggested by Ten Years' Experience as an Evergreen-tree Raiser, and Ten Years as an 



Evergreen-forest Planter. 



"1st. Never plant your evergreens in the fall of the year, but do it in the spring as 

 early as you can obtain the trees. 



" 2nd. Do not set your trees in the ground deeper by an inch than they stood in the 

 nursery. Use no manure of any kind in planting evergreens or larch, but let the soil 

 be mellow and friable, without lumps in contact with _the roots. 



" 3rd. Do not plant trees under two years' old even for stocking a nursery, and for 

 the garden and lawn give the preference to trees one to three feet high. 



" 4th. Never dig deep among the roots of your trees, but keep the soil meUow and 

 moist at the surface by a high mulching 'of bruised straw or hay, that will prevent the 

 weeds from growing. 



" 5th. Last, but not least, get your trees direct from a nursery, carefully avoiding 



