202 CULTURE AND MANAGEMENT OF OAK. 



vive are, in most cases, so materially injured as to 

 grow but slowly afterwards, and never to attain 

 their full and natural size. 



Of the pernicious effects which transplanting has 

 upon oak, every one who has had opportunities of 

 paying attention to the various operations of the 

 nursery must have seen many examples. For the 

 sake of others, the following easy experiment is sug- 

 gested ; and it is presumed that any impartial per- 

 son who will take the trouble to make it, will be 

 convinced that to transplant oak is a great and ra- 

 dical error in the cultivation of that valuable spe- 

 cies of timber. 



Select a piece of tolerably rich land free from per- 

 ennial weeds, and secure from the irruptions of cat- 

 tle and similar casualties. Dig it a foot deep in the 

 month of March, taking care to break it well with 

 the spade, and to throw out all large stones. After 

 letting it dry for a few days, proceed to crop it with 

 acorns as follows : — Open drills of about an inch 

 deep, and eighteen inches asunder, being careful, 

 while performing this work, to harden the ground 

 as little as possible with the feet. In these drills, 

 plant acorns at one foot asunder, and cover them 

 by drawing the earth over them. When the plants 

 appear, which they will do in May, all weeds that 



