NURSERY AND PLANTING. 



105 



creasing them should be countenanced ; as it is well known 

 that trees, originated from layers, cannot ever be expected to 

 be equal to those propagated from seeds. The lime ripens its 

 seeds in October, and should be sown as soon as gathered, by 

 which means the seeds will vegetate the following spring; 

 whereas, if not sown till the spring, they would not vegetate 

 till the following year, and consequently one season would be 

 entirely lost. Their after management, while in the nursery, 

 is not different from that of other trees under similar circum- 

 stances, and consequently need not be repeated. 



The lime is one of those few trees that will grow freely, 

 although planted of a large size ; however, the best-sized trees 

 from a nursery, to plant with a view to profit, are those from 

 eighteen inches to three feet in height; nevertheless plants 

 from that size to five or six feet, may be safely planted. As 

 to soil, the lime is not particular ; it will grow in almost all 

 soils, but flourishes best in a deep loam where it is moderately 

 sheltered. Indeed, the lime is not a tree that is calculated to 

 stand in the most exposed situations, and it is seldom planted 

 in such, at least not in this country 



Limes propagated by layers may be operated upon in spring 

 or in autumn, and at these seasons, March and October may 

 be considered the best. In laying limes, the various processes 

 of tonguing, sliting, ringing, &c., are dispensed with, as the 

 plants are found to root so freely, when laid in the more simple 

 method of merely bending a part of the shoot, so that it may 

 be buried about three inches under the surface, having the 

 leading end of the shoot shortened back to one eye, and that 

 eye only a little above the surface of the ground : this bend is 

 so performed, that the bark is not even cracked in the pro- 

 cess. Those shoots laid in spring, will, for the most part, be 

 fit to remove from the stool, and to be planted into nursery- 

 lines the spring following that in which they have been laid, 

 and so in most cases will it be with those which are laid in 

 autumn. When the young plants are removed from the stools 

 or mother-plant, they should be immediately planted out in 

 nursery-lines about two feet apart, and a foot or fifteen 

 inches apart, plant from plant, in the line. Here they may re- 

 main until planted out, where they are to ren.ain. The stools 



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