142 



No. XLVIII. 



Nm^sery, 



Where there is so much to be done in the way of 

 planting, it would be of the greatest imaginable uti- 

 lity to establish on every estate a small nursery, not 

 so much for rearing from the seed, as this is attend- 

 ed with considerable expense, but to buy in seedHng 

 plants from the seed bed, transplant them in it till 

 they are ready to plant into the field or wood, where 

 they can be kept short or long, to rear them to an- 

 swer the purpose of every soil and situation where 

 large or small plants may be required ; this will al- 

 so prepare them for the situation, soil, and climate. 

 Seedlings in ordinary years, unless there is an un- 

 common scarcity, can be bought at from 2s. to 4s. 

 per thousand, average prices of all kinds ; this will 

 at least be a saving of 20s. on the thousand of plants, 

 and the little ground they occupy for one, two, or 

 three years is comparatively nothing ; I should sup- 

 pose one-fourth of an acre sufficient in the mean- 

 time, unless some extensive new plantations are to 

 be made. From what I have already said as to the 

 incalculable advantages to be derived from planting, 

 it would be unnecessary to go much farther into the 

 affair at present 5 I cannot help wondering that some 

 society or joint-stock company does not embark in a 

 system of planting waste lands, especially in this 

 country, (Ireland,) where excellent land for rearing 

 timber can be got for a mere trifle, and labour so very 

 cheap, and every thousand pounds laid out, would 

 bring a return in twenty years of more than L.7OOO. 



