Book III. 



CULTURE OF A TREE-NURSERY. 



977 



from the roots being exposed to the air by being kept long out of the soil ; or from compression and ex. 

 elusion of air and moisture by being kept in close bundles, or thick layers, as those of the resinous tribe; 

 they should therefore be finally planted as soon as possible after Yemoval from the nursery ; and, indeed, 

 whenever it is practicable, no more should be taken up in one day than can be planted that day or the 

 next. Nor are any plants more easily deprived of the vital principle, by packing and carriage either 

 by sea or land; though, being all evergreens, excepting the larch, they do not readily show it. This has 

 been stated to us, by experienced planters in Wales and other parts of England, as the reason why so few 

 trees are finally produced from the immense numbers of Scotch pine and larch fir annually sent there by the 

 Scotch nurserymen. 



7003. Pruning is not required by any of the resinous tribe in the nursery, unless to 

 pinch off a contending leader, or amputate a bruised part of the root or top. 



Sect. IT. Trees and Shrubs bearing Nuts, Acorns^ Masts, Keys, S^c. their Solving and 



Rearing. 



7004. The 2)rincipal hardy trees bearing nuts, acorns, masts, &c. are the following : — 



Fraxinus excelsior, November 

 Fagus sjlvatica, September, October 

 . — castanea, November 

 .Ssculus hippo-castanura, October 

 Carpinus betulus, November 

 Quercus robur, November 



Quercus prinus, November 



— alba, November 

 Platanus occidentalis, December 

 Acer pseudo-platanus, October 

 Juglans regia, September. 



Slirubs. 



Amygdalus communis, September 

 Staphylsea pinnata, October 



— virginiana, Oi:tober 

 Acer communis, & various species, Sept. 

 Corylus avellana, October. 



7005. Gathering ajid keeping. These being gathered, if circumstances permit, should 

 be immediately sown ; but where this cannot be done, or where they are to be sent to a 

 distance, they should be thinly spread in an airy loft till thoroughly dried, when they 

 may be preserved till spring in bags or barrels, or sent off to any distance in these or 

 other packages. When the seeds of the ash, sycamore, platanus, and hornbeam, are only 

 to be kept for the purpose of spi-ing sowing, the best plan is to take them to the rotting- 

 ground (.6979.), mix them with their bulk of dry sand or ashes, spread them in a stratum 

 of ten inches in thickness, in the form of beds, cover with sand to the same thickness, and 

 leave them in that state till wanted for spring sowing. - 



7006. Sowing. The bedding-in manner (2091.), or by drills, may be adopted for all 

 the kinds. Acorns, horse and Spanish chestnuts, almonds, and hazel-nuts, should be 

 sown in February, in strong loam, in good heart and well comminuted : the seeds should 

 be placed half an inch apart, and covered two inches thick. Walnuts require a similar 

 soil and covering, but should be placed two inches nut from nut. Ash-seeds will come 

 up in soil of middling quality, but it should be well dug, and in an open situation, that 

 the plants may not be drawn. Place the seeds half an inch apart, and cover one inch. 

 Sycamore-plants when young being liable to be killed by the frost, the seeds should not 

 be sown till the end of March or beginning of April ; they should be sown in exposed, 

 dry, sandy soil, an inch apart, and covered one inch in thickness. On rich moist land 

 they will rise so tall and soft, that the extremities of their shoots will not ripen in autumn, 

 and the plants will in consequence be unfit for use. Beech-plants, when newly risen, 

 are still more tender than those of the sycamore kind, and therefore should generally be 

 sown in April, but not later than the middle of the month ; for if very dry weather set 

 in, they will not rise till the following spring, and so have a great chance of them perish- 

 ing by the frost. The soil should be tender and rich, previously under a culinary crop 

 with dung ; and it should receive a small dressing of well rotted manure previously to 

 digging for semination. The seeds should lie an inch apart, and be covered a full inch. 

 The best time for sowing the hornbeam is in October; but it may also be sown in Fe- 

 bruaiy : the soil should be light, but not very rich : the bed form answers best : the 

 seeds should lie half an inch apart, and be covered half an inch in thickness. The 

 plant is seldom raised from seeds ; but when this is done, a soft peat-earth soil is the 

 best, and the covering should not be more than a quarter of an inch. The seeds of the 

 bladder-nut, if sown as soon as gathered, will come up the following spring ; if not, a 

 part will not rise till the second year : sow in light rich soil, and cover an inch and a 

 half deep. 



7007. Transplanting. The operation of loosening the plants, sorting them into sizes, 

 and pruning their roots and tops, require to be first performed. As these plants have 

 generally long and strong tap-roots, these require to be cut in the operation of loosening ; 

 which, for this purpose, must be performed with a sharp spade, and care taken in 

 thrusting it down, that the root is not cut too high ; care should also be taken to pre- 

 serve uninjured all the lateral fibres. In sorting the plants into two or three sizes, the 

 fractured tap-root of each must be cut smoothly off with a sharp knife, and any side 

 shoots on the stem cut close off. If the plants cannot be immediately planted, they 

 may be laid in by the heels, or shoughed that is, thickly bedded in the bedding-ground 

 (6979.) till wanted. Here they may remain in layers not more than three or four 

 inches thick, for a month or two in the winter season ; and for a week or two even in. 

 February and March. None of the kinds should remain in the seed-bed longer than 

 two years ; but in drills they may remain three years j and more especially if tha 

 operation of tapping be performed ; that is, cutting through their tap-roots about eight 

 inches below the surface. " This is most effectuallv and readily done by two men with 



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