OF FOREST-TREES. 



119 



a fable by the less observant and ignorant vulgar : Let it therefore CHAP. IV. 

 be tried in season, by turning and raking some fine earth, often refreshed * ^u"^' 

 under some amply spreading tree ; or to raise them of their seeds, 

 being well dried a day or two before, sprinkled on beds prepared 

 of good loamy fresh earth, and sifting some of the finest mould thinly 

 over them, and watering them when need requires : Being risen, which 



dui'ing the hot season ; and they should also sometimes be refreshed with water : Part 

 of the young plants will come up in about a month, or sooner ; the others not till the 

 spring following. From the time the seeds are sown, to their appearance above ground, 

 whenever rain falls, be careful to uncover the beds, and be as ready to cover them again 

 when the scorching beams of the sun break out. About the end of August, the mats 

 should be wholly taken away, that the plants may be hardened against winter : The 

 spring following, a fresh crop will present thenaselves among those that came up the 

 summer before : All the summer following they should be constantly kept free from weeds, 

 and watered as often as dry weather shall render it necessary ; and in October, or spring, 

 they may be planted out in the nursery, at the distance before prescribed for the layers, 

 and afterwards should be managed like them. 



Grafting is the next method of propagating Elms, all the sorts of which may be increased 

 this way : The stocks for the purpose should be the common broad- leaved, or Wych Elm, 

 which must be raised from the seed, and planted out as before. When they have grown 

 two years in the nursery they will be of proper size to receive the graft ; the beginning 

 of March is the best time for the work. If a large quantity of Elm stocks are 

 to be grafted, procure six men in readiness for the purpose : The business of the first man 

 is to take the mould from the stem of the stocks, with a spade, down to the root, laying 

 the top of the root bai*e ; the next man is to follow him with a sharp pruning-knife, 

 cutting off the heads of the stocks, and leaving the stumps to be grafted only about 

 two inches above the root ; the third man is the grafter himself, who, having his grafts 

 cut about four or five inches in length, all the young wood, and such as have never 

 bore lateral branches, in a dish, takes out one of them, and, holding it in his left hand, 

 the taper end being from him, with the knife that is in his right, he takes off a slope, 

 about an inch and a half, or two inches long ; and, if the grafter be an artist, it will 

 be cut as true as if wrought by a plane. This done, he forms a tongue by making a small 

 slit upwards, beginning from the top of the slope, and then proceeds to prepare the stock 

 to receive it, which is effected by sloping off a side of it, of the same length with the 

 sloped graft, that the pails may fit as near as possible : He then makes a cut, nearly at the 

 top of the stock, downward, to receive the tongue he had made in the graft; and, having 

 properly joined them, he proceeds to the next. After the grafter, follows a person with 

 Jjass matting, cut into proper lengths; and, with these, he ties the gi-afts pretty close 

 to the stock. The fifth man brings the clay, which should have been prepared a week, 

 or longer, before, and well worked and beaten over, mixed with a fourth part of horse- 

 dung, and some chopped hay, in order to make it hang the better together ; with this 

 he surrounds the graft and the stock. Lastly, the. sixth man comes and closes the clay. 



