ITS CULTUEE IN CALIFOENIA. 



31 



set in, discontinued altogether. The loss 

 of plants from dampiuf? otf was inconsid- 

 erable, and due, I am led to believe, more 

 to imperfect drainage in some of the boxes 

 than to an excess of water applied. In ir- 

 rigating, however, it should be borne in 

 mind_that the earth needs simply a good 

 moistening, not a soaking. 



Gkbmination of the Seeds. — Six 

 weeks after planting, the greenish- 

 jellow orange shoots began to appear in 

 the boxes. They came along quite irreg- 

 ularly, but in three months the quota was 

 well filled. Some seeds, lacking vitalitj'-, 

 sent up weak and spindling shoots ; oth- 

 ers, from an excess of germinative force 

 produced twins. Some of the former died, 

 and the latter I thinned out to one stalk 

 apiece, putting the extra plante in vacant 

 places. 



Weeding. —Two thorough weedings, 

 with a little attention in snipping out ir- 

 regular interlopers, sufficed to keep the 

 bed clean the yoar through. Herein, as 

 stated, I experienced the benefits of a clean 

 soil. Had I used manure instead of nat- 

 ural mold there would have been far more 

 of this business on my hands. A cover- 

 ing of green moss, which formed on the 

 sui-face of the boxes toward the latter part 

 of summer, gave me some apprehension, 

 and I broke it up once by stirring the soil 

 between the young plants and omitting 

 an irrigation or two; but it came back 

 during the winter, and I allowed it to re- 

 mam as no harm appeared to result. In 

 the next planting I obviated this difficulty 



by making the covering of clean sand in- 

 stead of the prepared soil. 



Enemies to the Young Plants.— I 

 lost a number of plants through the dep- 

 redations of a pair of linnets, which 

 seemed to take great delight in nipping: 

 off the tender new growth, I succeeded 

 finally in scaring the little fiends away. 

 The next trouble came from a family of 

 toads that attempted to squat on my 

 claim. These I carried out by the hind 

 legs. A rabbit got into the inclosure on 

 one occasion and mowed down some of 

 the trees. He did not come again . These, 

 with the damping off, were the only fatal- 

 ities which overtook my young nursery. 

 But under different circumstances new 

 enemies might appear. It is advisable 

 for one to keep a sharp lookout continu- 

 ally, for, in the words of the hymn, "Ten 

 thousand foes arise." 



FROTECTio5<r FROM CoLD. —During two 

 or three cold spells which occurred in tho 

 winter, I kept the young trees covered 

 with gunny sacks and such other old 

 cloths as were available. 



The 0UTC03IE. — In June, one year after 

 planting the seeds, I was ready to transfer 

 my stock to the nursery rows. From tho 

 18,000 seeds planted there were 10,000 trees, 

 ranging in height from four to twelve 

 inches. Had I chosen to sell them they 

 would have brought me two and one-half 

 cents apiece, or an aggregate of |250, 

 which would have paid fairly for the in- 

 vestment and labor. , 



CHAPTER II. 



PLANTING THE NUltSERY. 



Location.— Much may be said about 

 locating a nursery, but all the rules pre- 

 scribed can not obviate the necessity for a 

 study of the special requirements in each 

 ease. To a certain extent, ev^ry nursery 

 is a law unto itself. There are peculiari- 

 ties of soil, of situation, of surroundings, 

 of climate, which must be considered 

 Jointly and severally. So far as lies in 



human prevision, every obstacle ought to 

 be anticipated and forestalled. A failure 

 to do this in some apparently trivial par- 

 ticular may entail endless unnecessary 

 labor, vexations, losses, and perhaps ulti- 

 mate discouragement and disaster. Some 

 good man has said there are no little sins; 

 in nursery planting there are no little 

 mistakes. 



