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alert to improve methods in the ordinary routine, and fully alive to 
the desirability of reducing costs of operation and overhead charges. 
It is desirable that he have a knowledge of plant physiology and 
pathology, for this will enable him to note quickly imperfections or 
disease in his stock and to seek methods for improving its quality or 
health. 
INITIAL PREPARATION OF NURSERY SITE. 
On a site which has already been cleared or is free of all stumps, 
logs, and woody growth, the first step in preparing the ground is 
to remove the litter, rocks, and pieces of roots. The surface soil 
should be thoroughly hand raked and rubbish carted away ; the area 
should then be plowed and harrowed very thoroughly. Where there 
is a grass cover it should be scraped off close and burnt to ashes after 
the sod is thoroughly dried; or better, it may be plowed under and 
the area devoted to field crops for a year or two until the sod is 
thoroughly decomposed. Piles of brush should not be burned on 
the nursery area because deterioration of the soil results. 
Experience has proved that plowing and replowing and harrowing 
and reharrowing, amply pay for themselves in the resulting condi- 
tion of the area. Bocks, roots, and trash which would interfere with 
the nursery operations are not only brought to the surface and re- 
moved, but hollows are filled in and elevations cut down until the 
whole surface is brought to an even grade. The initial plowing and 
harrowing must be more intensive than those of after years because 
of the greater amount of rubbish present and the roughness of the 
land. Heavy soils, fall plowed and left rough, are much mellowed 
and improved by the action of the frost and are in a better state to 
absorb and retain the winter moisture. Unless replowed in the 
spring, however, they are packed and hard to work. Spring plow- 
ing and harrowing puts a soil in excellent condition for working; 
but after transplanting operations are finished the soil may settle 
and leave the plants sticking too high out of the ground. The com- 
bination of fall plowing with cross plowing and harrowing in the 
spring is undoubtedly best, provided the soil can be watered and 
settled somewhat before transplanting begins. 
The seed-bed area should be further prepared with a shovel or 
garden fork, the lumps of earth mashed, and then finely pulverized 
by raking. In either plowing or spading the soil should, if possible, 
be stirred to a depth of a foot. Very shallow cultivation may result 
in shallow root development, heaving, and poor plant growth through 
drying out of the soil. Deep cultivation involves the risk of bring- 
ing to the surface the poorer, less fertile subsoil, in which plants do 
not develop properly. 
