NURSERY AND PLANTING. 



53 



let by the task or piece, excepting it be the cleaning, di'aining, 

 trenching of tlie ground, and the digging the pits for the trees. 

 The very best trees should be chosen, and as good trees cannot 

 be reared but at a very considerable expense, a liberal price 

 should be given. Many, however, thinking to act with gi'eat 

 economy, purchase their trees from itinerant nurserymen, and 

 from such as offer plants at an unreasonably low price ; such 

 persons, therefore, may to a certainty expect to be disap- 

 pointed. It should also be considered, that in regard to trees, 

 as is the case in all other marketable commodities, there are 

 high and low prices fixed, according to the value of the goods. 

 When a liberal price is offered, good trees can always be pro- 

 cured ; and we are confident that every respectable nurseryman 

 feels more satisfaction at sending out good plants to his cus- 

 tomers than bad ones ; and we are also confident that good trees 

 from the nursery, although high in price, are always much 

 cheaper in the end than bad ones, which are got for nothing. 



Local situation has also some effect in inducing our recom- 

 mendations of private nurseries, for when trees are brought a 

 great distance, the expense must be considerable, and the injury 

 that they sustain no less so, from being a length of time out of 

 the ground. In many sequestered situations, particularly in the 

 north of Scotland, in Ireland, and Wales, where planting may be 

 in progi'ess, many unforeseen obstacles may delay the arrival of 

 trees at their destination, several weeks after they have been 

 taken up in the nursery ; and, in these cases, a considerable 

 number of trees are generally ordered at the same time, many 

 of which often remain unplanted for three months ; laid (as it is 

 technically called) in by the heels, and not unfrequently in bun- 

 dles of from five hundred to a thousand trees each, closely tied 

 together. There are few places where it is difficult to procure 

 plenty of men to assist in planting, but we have always found it 

 better to continue the season of planting to a greater length of 

 time, than to employ too many hands, many of whom never 

 planted a tree before in their life. For these, and other reasons 

 of an equally important nature, we would recommend the form- 

 ing private nurseries near to where the scene of planting is to 

 take place, as, by that means, the trees may be taken up ac- 

 cordingly as they are wanted ; and it is reasonable to expect that 



