132 TREATISE on 



I TROCRFD to die management of the feeds, from the pra(!^icc 

 of which I have found uncommon fuccefs in the culture of this 

 ufefal plant ; and the public may be affured, I fnali not give a 

 hint on the fubjecfl:, the benefit of v^diich I have not been fully 

 fenfible of from long and frequent experience. 



From fowing the Fir feeds fo late in the feafon as they com- 

 monly are, tliey do not appear above ground till the weather is 

 warm, and the greateft drought ufually begins in this country. 

 Thus they mufl either be regularly watered, (which in large 

 quantities is very expenfive), or whole quartej^s of them m^ay 

 perifli in a few days. Every nurferyman of the leaft obferva- 

 tion will acknov/Iedge this, having felt it to his fad experience. 

 It has happened often within thefe twenty years paft ; and we 

 need go no farther back than the year 1771, for a fatal example 

 of it, when not only the Scots Firs, but all the other evergreen 

 tree-feeds were generally burnt up, nor in many fituations did 

 even watering preferve them. Neither is this the only misfor- 

 tune that frequently attends late fowing : There is another, and 

 a very great one, that never fails, and that neither a kindly fea- 

 fon, nor good foil, will prevent, that is, the fmall growth of the 

 plants ; from which, if the fucceeding winter is fevere, the 

 greateft part of them will either be killed, or fpewed out of the 

 ground. 



To prevent thefe frequ'^nt misfortunes, I therefore advife to 

 fov/ the feeds in {iw.dj borders of generous loofe mould, at the 

 rate of a pound of good feeds in a bed or beds of fixty feet 

 long by three and a half broad, about the middle of March, or 



