CHAP. CX1II. CONl'FElliE. iVNUS. 2179 



then to be kept in bags or boxes in a dry room, till the sowing season in the 

 April following. Boutcher recommends sowing the pine seed in shady bor- 

 ders of generous loose mould, about the middle of March ; and covering it 

 i in. thick, or covering it at first T \ in. ; and, just as the seed begins to vege - 

 tate, raking off one half of the covering with a short-toothed rake. Many 

 thousands of plants, in stiff grounds and dry seasons, he says, for want of this 

 precaution, are smothered ; being unable to struggle with the hard-crusted 

 surface. Baudrillart makes the same remark with reference to the Scotch 

 pine raised in nurseries in France. Boutcher's reason for sowing the Scotch 

 pine so early is, that, when the plants are not well rooted before the hot 

 seasons sets in, they become stunted, and are sometimes killed. It will be 

 observed that, by Boutcher's plan, a year is lost, but in other respects it seems 

 unexceptionable. When the seeds are kilndried with care, and at a low 

 temperature, they will not be injured; and the labour attending this process 

 must be less than that of removing them at lest twice a day, for several weeks, 

 from a shed or loft into the open air, and back again. After the plants come 

 up, if they can be supplied with water for two or three weeks, it will greatly 

 increase their vigour. In the following April, they may be transplanted into 

 nursery lines, 1 ft. 3 in. asunder; and Gin. or 7 in. apart in the row, where 

 they may remain two years ; after which they should be removed to their 

 final destination : or, should large plants be required, they may be removed 

 a second time, and planted in the nursery, in rows 3 ft. asunder, and 1 ft. 6 in. 

 apart in the row; where, after standing two years, they " will transplant with 

 absolute safety, and grow as freely as the younger plants ; notwithstanding 

 the general prejudice against old Scotch pines, which has only a good foun- 

 dation when they have not been transplanted seasonably, or properly culti- 

 vated." (Treatise on Forest Trees, &c., p. 136.) The general nursery practice 

 is to allow seedling Scotch pines to remain two years in the seed-bed ; after 

 which they are taken up, and planted in rows 1 ft. 2 in. apart, and 3 in. apart 

 in the lines, taking care never to prune the tops, and to injure the roots as 

 little as possible. " If they remain a third year in the seed-bed," says Sang, 

 " they are good for nothing." Scotch pines, the same author observes, " should 

 never stand longer in the lines than one year after planting, unless they are 

 to be planted out in very fine soil ; in which case, they may be allowed two 

 years in the lines, but at the distance of 6 in. between plant and plant. Two- 

 years seedling Scotch pines of good growth," he says, " one year planted out 

 on good soil, rise with far better roots in proportion to their tops than when of 

 any other age, and are therefore more fit for general use." (Plant. Kal., p. 319.) 

 Mr. Farquharson of Marlee, writing to Dr. Hunter in 1755, gives the fol- 

 lowing account of his mode of raising the Scotch pine from seeds, and planting 

 it out on the Highland mountains. He gathers the cones in February or 

 March, from thriving young trees ; and sows the seeds in the end of April or 

 the beginning of May, in light loamy soil, trenched 1 ft. 6 in. deep, and laid 

 out in beds 5 ft. broad. He sows the seeds very thick, and covers them with 

 a " thick sifting of mould," from the alleys. Plants raised in this manner, he 

 says, will rise like a brush. No kind of manure should be given to the beds, 

 as productive of weeds ; the drawing of which not only brings up many of the 

 tender plants, but loosens the ground, and makes blanks that let in the frost in 

 winter, and the drought in summer. To give an idea of the sowing, he never 

 considers his crop of plants good unless he has above 1000 in each foot long 

 of the beds, that is, in five square feet, upon their having two seasons' growth. 

 " I plant them out," he says, " irregularly from the seed-bed, about 3 ft. 

 asunder, upon the mountainous ground where they are to rise to perfection. 

 I begin to plant the driest ground in autumn, 18 months after sowing, and per- 

 sist in this operation until the frost prevents me. I begin again in February, or, 

 rather, as the weather admits, and continue this work sometimes till the end 

 of April, so as to plant out the product of 2-year-old seed-beds. I put the plants 

 into the ground with two cuts of a spade, made in the form of the letter V, thus 

 «"J ; I raise the point of the angle with what we call a dibble, or wooden spa- 



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