NURSERY AND PLANTING. 



115 



tion exciting him to relieve them, is in no respect entitled to 

 the name which he assumes." 



Scotch firs are sometimes transplated from the seed-bed, 

 when one year old, and put out into nursery-lines, in which 

 they generally remain for two years ; but more generally they 

 are allowed to remain for two seasons in the seed-bed, and are 

 then put out into nursery-lines for one year : at the end of 

 that time they are in excellent condition for final planting out. 

 When Scotch firs are allowed to stand more than two years 

 in the seed-bed, they are entirely spoiled, and should seldom 

 be allowed to stand more than one in the nursery-lines. The 

 ground into which young firs are transplanted should be in 

 good condition, and not exhausted by previous crops, and, 

 indeed, if a light manuring be given it previously to their 

 planting, they will be benefitted thereby. During their nursery 

 culture, attention should be paid to keeping them clear of 

 weeds, and in transplanting them to allow not less room than 

 one foot between the lines, and the plant from plant in the line 

 half that distance. When they have been for one year in 

 the nursery-lines, having been transplanted when two-year old 

 seedlings, they will be (if the ground be in a proper state) 

 in much better condition for planting out than at any other age. 

 This tree does not succeed when planted large, and few succeed 

 better when of a proper size and age. Towards improving the 

 quality of this timber, some attention should be paid to the 

 trees from which the seeds are collected. The fir, like most 

 other vegetables, which are continually originating from seeds, 

 must be sporting into varieties, some of which have greater 

 merits than others. This circumstance has given rise to a 

 variety of opinions as to whether there be not several distinct 

 species confounded under the general name of Pinus S?/l- 

 vestriSf or Scotch fir. 



Among- 1 the most eminent of those who entertained thai 

 opinion was the late Mr. Don, of Forfar, who, in a very ex- 

 cellent paper in the Mem. of the Caledonian Horticultural 

 Society, Vol. IL p. 121, describes several varieties; and wc 

 find that notice hi\s been taken of the red-wooded variety by 

 the celebrated Earl of Haddington, who may be considered 

 the father of planting in Scotland. Others again deny the 



