47 



NURSERY AND PLANTING. 



INTRODUCTION. 



The term nursery, when applied to matters relating to 

 horticulture, is understood to refer either to the commercial or 

 public nursery, wherein are cultivated trees, plants, and often- 

 times seeds, for the purpose of sale ; or to the private nursery, 

 in which trees and plants are propagated and reared by the 

 proprietor, for the purpose of enriching or beautifying his 

 park or domain, or for extending his plantations with a view 

 to ultimate profit, and increasing the value of his estate. The 

 spirit for planting has very much increased in this country 

 within the last sixty or seventy years ; and we find during that 

 period, that the minds of men conspicuous for their learning, 

 and admired for their virtues and patriotism, have been enthu- 

 siastically attached to this pursuit, and the beneficial effects 

 of their labours are, and will remain, monuments of their 

 good policy, long after they themselves have " reached that 

 bourne from which no traveller returns." 



The beneficial effects of planting have long ago been suffi- 

 ciently demonstrated to be attended with a certain and pro- 

 gressive increase of any given capital employed in it, and con- 

 sidered either individually or generally, must, in most cases, 

 reward the speculator, although at a more remote period, 

 with a far more certain return than almost any other specu- 

 lation in which he can embark. Considered as a national 

 advantage, planting must rank high in the list of improve- 

 ments, and be indispensable in such countries as our own, the 

 glory and independence of which depend so much on the 

 strength of our navy and extension of conmiercial shipping. 

 Our boasted oaks have been the envy and dread of our ene- 

 mies, and the bulwarks of our safety, when invasion was 

 threatened by the combined powers of ahnor^t the whole of 



