118 



A DISCOURSE 



BOOK I. -l^l^^ ^^^^y iicknovvledge to be raised of seeds, which, being ripe about 

 -^V^^ the beginning of JMay, though frequently not till the following month, 

 will produce them ; as may be seen abundantly in the gardens of the 

 Thuilleries, and that of Luxembourg, at Paris, where they usually sow 

 themselves, and come up very thick ; and so do they in many places 

 of our country, though so seldom taken notice of, as that it is esteemed 



should have all then- ends bent towards the stool, that the slit may be kept open. Lastly, 

 having the whole vacuity filled with its own mould, smooth and even, take off the end 

 of each twig that peeps above the ground, down to one eye ; and the branch, thus laid, will 

 afford as many plants as there are buds peeping out of the ground. Proceed in like manner 

 to the other branches of the same stool, then to the next stool in order, and so on, until the 

 whole business of layering be finished. 



By the autumn following, these layers will have taken root, and many of them -will have 

 made a shoot of near a yard in length. It is then necessary to take them from their stools, 

 and plant them in some double-dug ground in the nursery. They should be set in rows 

 three feet asunder, and the distance allowed them from each other in the rows ought to be a 

 foot and a half. Here they man stand till they are planted out where they are to remain, 

 with no farther trouble than digging the ground between the two rows every winter, and, in 

 the same summer, carefully watching those which shoot out two branches at the head, and 

 nipping the weakest of them off. 



After the layers are taken up, the stools must have all the wounded parts, occasioned 

 by the former splashing, taken away ; the old branches also should be cut off pretty close 

 to the stem, and in the spring they will begin to shoot out fresh branches again for 

 a second layering, which will likewise be ready to have the same operation performed 

 the second year after: And thus may this layering be performed on these stools every 

 other year. But nurserymen, who must raise great quantities of trees this way, should be 

 provided with two quarters of stools, to come in alternately, so that from one or other 

 of them they may annually receive a crop. 



Another, and by far the most expeditious method of raising Elms, is by sowing the 

 seeds ; but this practice chiefly respects the Wych Elm, the seeds of the others very 

 rarely ripening in this country. In order, therefore, to obtain a good quantity of these 

 Elms, let the seeds be gathered the beginning of June, it being the time when they are full 

 ripe. When gathered, spread them three or four days to dry ; for, if they were to be sown 

 immediately upon being gathered, they would rot. Having been spread about that time, 

 and the ground, which ought to be fresh and good, being in readiness for their reception, 

 mark out your beds four feet wide, and let the alleys between them be a foot and a half 

 or two feet broad. Rake the mould out of the beds until they are about an inch deep ; 

 riddle that -which came out of the beds into them again, until the bottom of each bed 

 be raised half an inch fi. e, half filled) with riddled mould; then gently press the mould 

 down with the back of the spade, and sow the seeds thinly all over it with an even hand, 

 covering them down with fine earth about half an inch deep. When the seeds are all 

 sown this way, the beds should be hooped and covered with mats, to shade the plants 



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