OF FOREST-TREES. 



155 



it, drenched for a night or more, in new milk : But without half this CH. VIII. 

 preparation they need only be put into the holes with the point upmost, ^'^'V^*' 

 as you plant tulips. Pliny will tell you, they come not up, unless four 

 or five be piled together in a hole ; but that is false, if they be good, 

 as you may presume all those to be which pass the examination, nor will 

 any of them fail; but being come up, they thrive best unremoved. 



This method should be always practised, that you may be certain of your seeds, whether 

 they are of English or foreign growth. Indeed, in some cold, damp soils, Chesnut-trees 

 seldom perfect their seeds here ; but where they do, our English trees produce very good 

 seeds for the purpose ; though it is generally allowed that those brought from Portugal and 

 Spain are better. 



The goodness of the nuts being thus proved, and having a sufficient quantity of ground 

 properly prepared for the seminary, in the month of February let drills, about a foot 

 distance from each other, be made across this ground, about four inches deep, in which 

 let the nuts be placed, at about four inches distance, throughout every drill. Some people 

 recommend the eye of the nut to be placed uppermost, but there seems no necessity for 

 such a caution ; nature in all cases of sowing, pushes the germ upwards and the root 

 downwards ; and if we were, by way of experiment, to turn the germ of a new-sprouted 

 bean downwards and the root upwards, the plant, from a kind of vegetable instinct 

 impressed upon it by the Author of Nature, would counteract our intentions, and in a few 

 days the germ and root would reassume their former positions. 



In the spring, when the young plants appear, they should be kept clear from weeds ; 

 and as often as any weeds present themselves, they must be plucked up during the time 

 the trees remain in the seminary, which ought to be two years from the time of sowing. 



The plants, having stood in the seminary two years, must be carefully taken up, all 

 the side-shoots taken off, and the tap-root shortened ; then, having ground in the nursery 

 double-dug, let them be planted in rows, two feet and a half or three feet asunder, and 

 at least one foot and a half distant in the rows. The best time for doing this work 

 is the latter end of February ; for if they are planted in October, the severe frosts will 

 be subject to throw the young plants out of the ground before winter is over. A year after 

 they have been planted in the nursery, it will be very proper to cut every one of them 

 down to within an inch of the ground ; which will cause them to shoot vigorously with 

 one strong and straight stem. Without this treatment, they are very subject to grow 

 scraggy and crooked, and to make but slow progress ; so that where they do not take well 

 to the ground, and shoot irregularly, they should be cut down according to this direction ; 

 after which they will shoot strongly, and, in a short time, overtake those that have not 

 undergone this operation, though planted some years before them. 



In this nursery they may remain four or five years, when they will be fit to plant out, 

 with no other pruning than taking off very strong side-branches, and such as have 

 a tendency to make the tree forked. The only trouble required will be keeping the 

 ground clear of weeds, and every winter digging between the rows. — After they are 

 of a sufficient size to be planted out for standards, either in fields, clumps, wilderness 



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