NURSERY. 



209 



must be had to the leading roads of the district, the means 

 of carriage by land or water, the objects which will probably 

 be most in demand, whether seedlings, fruit-trees, vines, 

 native plants, tender exotics, or all these united. 



" In order to have a complete nursery, it should contain 

 soils of various qualities, and not less than eighteen inches 

 or two feet deep ; the generality of it should be light, friable 

 earth ; a part of it should be of a clayey nature, and 

 another part should be mossy. Each of these will be found 

 peculiarly useful in the raising of the different kinds of 

 young plants. The whole should be well drained and 

 trenched, and cropped with vegetables for one, or even two 

 years, previously to sowing tree seeds. For transplanting, 

 it may be used the first year. A nursery may certainly be 

 over-sheltered ; but this is likely to happen only in the case 

 of its being very small ; for, if it extend to several acres, 

 unless it be surrounded by very tall trees, the area will be 

 considerably exposed. No part should be either too much 

 exposed, or too much sheltered. Any aspect from east to 

 west, following the course of the sun, will answer. Ground 

 of an unequal surface is most likely to contain the various 

 soils above-mentioned. A nursery should, therefore, in 

 general, rise from a level to a pretty smart acclivity, yet no 

 part of it should be too steep, because it is, in that case, 

 very troublesome to labour. The nursery ground may be 

 sufficiently fenced by a stone wall, or even a hedge, six feet 

 high ; and if it be of small size, an acre or thereabouts, it 

 will require no other shelter over all the space. The 

 fence, whether of thorns or stone, should be made proof 

 against the admission of hares or rabbits. It should be 

 subdivided into compartments and borders, of proportionate 

 size to the contents of the area, by walks. The compart- 

 ments should never be encumbered v/ith large trees, as ap- 

 ples, pears, or the like, because, being already established 

 in the ground, they never fail to rob the young trees of 

 their food, and to cause them to be poor and stunted, un- 

 worthy of being planted. It would be very convenient to 

 have a rill of water passing through the ground, or to have 

 a small pond, fed by a spring, or a pipe, for the purpose of 

 watering. 



" In preparing the soil for the culture of trees, it will be 

 advisable to trench it to its full depth, and necessary to giva 

 it a good dressing of lime or marl, or dung in compost. 

 Rank manure, such as stable-litter, should not be applied to 

 nursery ground, at the time of cropping with nursery arti- 

 18* 



