86 



PURCHASING PLANTS. 



the plants are raised more delicately than is con- 

 sistent with their future thrift ; but this is not the 

 case in all, nor perhaps even in the greater number. 

 Whoever has skill to select, will find abundance of 

 every kind of plants to purchasCj as hardy as it is 

 possible to raise them, and those who find it incon- 

 venient to have nurseries of their own, have them- 

 selves to blame, if their plantations are less thriving 

 on that account. 



A general, and a very gross error in purchasing 

 plants, is to consider those as best which are the 

 largest in proportion to their age. This absurd 

 princi23]e of selection makes those nurseries most 

 frequented by customers which least deserve to be 

 so ; such, namely, as are situated in the richest 

 soil, surrounded by the closest shelter, and stimu- 



is involved in the three following points, viz. When the soil is 

 too fertile and closely sheltered ; when manure is applied too 

 freely ; and when the plants are crowded too thickly together. 

 Now, though the nurseries that may be chargeable with all the 

 three errors are, no doubt, more numerous than is desirable, I 

 believe that they bear but a small proportion, compared with 

 the whole ; and I know that many are as free from any of these 

 objections as in practice is attainable. If the purchasers of 

 plants would only shew a little more discrimination than at 

 present they do, the most exceptional)le of our nurseries would 

 soon be greatly reformed. 



3 



