48 



A DISCOURSE 



BOOK I. where they are too thick, and set them immediately in other hnes or 

 "^"^/-^^ beds prepared for them ; or you may plant them in double fosses, where 

 they may abide for good and all, and to remain till they are of a compe- 

 tent stature to be transplanted ; where they should be set at such distances 



BIRCH. 



The common Birch is raised from seeds, and the varieties are continued by layers. 

 The seeds should be gathered in the autumn before they drop from their scales, which will 

 happen soon after they begin to open. In a day or two they should be sown in the semi- 

 nary, in a superficial manner ; and after they are come up, the plants should be carefully 

 kept clear of weeds for the first summer. The spring following they may be planted out 

 in the nursery : the rows must be two feet and a half asunder, and the plants a foot and a 

 half distant in the rows. Here they may continue till they are of a sufficient size to be 

 planted out where they are to remain. 



SCOTCH FIR. 



Having obtained a quantity of good seeds, let them be sown in beds of light loamy mouldy 

 sometime in the beginning of April, or sooner, if the weather be favourable. In about six 

 w^eeks the young plants will make their appearance, and then is the time to watch them 

 carefully ; for if the sparrows, or other birds, once find them out, they will destroy them 

 as fast as they come up. In order, therefore, to secure the crop, it will be proper to have 

 the beds well netted soon after beinsf sown, and strings of sewellins' drawn across. As 

 soon as the plants are come up and have parted with their husks, the netting and sewel- 

 ling may be removed : all this summer the beds must be kept clear of weeds, and in the 

 latter end of the following March, or beginning of April, the plants must be pricked out, 

 at the distance of four inches from each other, into beds properly prepared. After re- 

 maining in these beds two years, the plants should be removed into the nursery, where 

 they should be planted in rows three feet asunder, and the trees one foot and a half distant 

 in the rows. In this place they must continue till they are required to be planted out for 

 good. And here it will be proper to remark, that bleak and cold situations require the 

 firs to be planted from the seed-bed; of which a particular account is given in the twenty- 

 second chapter of the first book. 



WILD PINE. 



This tree may be raised in the same manner as the Scotch Fir ; and the cones should be 

 prepared and the seeds obtained according to the directions given for that tree. They 

 should also be sown at the same time ; and in about six weeks the young plants will ap- 

 peal*. They will make a short shoot the first summer ; and in the spring following they 

 should be pricked out in the nursery beds, at a foot asunder each away. After your plants 

 have taken to the ground, they will want no farther care than keeping them clean of weeds, 

 till the latter end of September, or beginning of April following ; in either which months they 

 should be planted out for good, if possible ; but if the ground cannot be got ready for their 



