52 



A DISCOURSE 



BOOK I. then (and that the stature of your young imps invite) you may plant them 

 •^^^-y^ forth, carefully taking up their roots, and cutting the stem within an inch 

 of the ground, (if the kind, of which hereafter, suffer the knife,) set them 

 where they are to continue : If thus you reduce them to the distance of 

 forty feet, the intervals may be planted with Ash, which may be felled 

 either for poles or timber, without the least prejudice to the Oak : Some 

 repeat the cutting, we speak of, the second year, and after March (the 

 moon decreasing) re-cut them at half a foot from the surface, and then 

 meddle with them no more : But this (if the process be not more severe 

 than needs) must be done with a very sharp instrument, and with care, 

 lest you violate and unsettle the root ; which is likewise to be practised 

 upon all those which you did not transplant, unless you find them very 

 thriving trees ; and then it shall suffice to prune off the branches, and 



These observations upon sowing ai'e taken from approved Authors that have wrote for 

 the Southern Parts of this Island, which may account for the great distances recom- 

 mended in planting from the seed-bed into the nursery. Nurserymen in the Northern 

 Counties do not allow much more than half the distance here recommended, and probably 

 the greater coldness of their climate may make it necessary to crowd the plants closer 

 together. Some other differences may be remarked, which, in like manner, may be 

 accounted for from the difference of climate. 



Having thus given some particular directions for forming the Seminary, and afterwards 

 stocking it with plants, it will be required to say something concerning the Nursery into 

 which the infant seedlings must be removed at proper seasons, in order • to train them for 

 planting out. And in fixing upon a proper piece of ground for this purpose, I recommend 

 it to be a rich, deep, and stiffish mould, notwithstanding that the trees must afterwards 

 be removed into a poorer soil. Reason teaches, that young trees, growing luxuriantly 

 and freely in a good soil, will form vigorously and healthy roots, whereby they will be 

 qualified to nourish themselves well ; and when they come to be afterwards planted into 

 worse lands, they will be enabled, from the strength of their constitution, to feed themselves 

 freely with coarser food. On the contrary, young trees, raised upon poor land, by having 

 their vessels contracted, and their outward bark mossy and diseased, will be a long time, 

 even after being removed to a rich soil, before they attain to a vigorous and 

 growing state : and as this is suggested by reason, experience confirms it to be true. 

 Having fixed upon a proper place, large enough to contain the quantity of trees 

 wanted, let it, in the first place, be well fenced, either with hedges sufficient to keep out 

 cattle, or pales or walls to keep out rabbits or hares ; for without such defence a nursery 

 will soon be demolished. In October or November, trench the land two spits deep, and 

 in spring turn it over again ; after which let the surface be smoothed, and laid out 

 in quarters for the reception of the different trees taken from the Seminary. 



