CHAPTER IV

THE HOME NURSERY: ITS FORMATION AND MANAGEMENT

In the course of my experience on large estates where planting has been extensively engaged in, few things have been more particularly impressed upon me than the importance of having a well-managed and well-stocked home nursery, where the propagating and raising of trees and shrubs required for forest and ornamental planting may be taken in hand. The numerous advantages of a home nursery, especially where planting is extensively carried out, are now so well known and appreciated by every proprietor of large estates that comment on this subject seems almost unnecessary.

Where ornamental planting, the formation of woods and plantations, game coverts, or hedging is performed on an extensive scale, the convenience of a home nursery cannot be over-valued, the plants being at hand when wanted, of the size and in the quantity required, and known to be well rooted, sturdy, and free from disease.

The advantages in these cases are too well known to require comment, and plants, more especially those of a large size, sent from even a short distance by either road or rail, cannot be expected to succeed equally with those raised and planted on the same day. The extra soil, or ball, with which large plants can be removed for a short distance is also much in their favour, but it is next to impossible to retain this where packing and transit have to be resorted to.

It is well known that too sudden a change from rich, well-sheltered nursery borders to bare, exposed hillsides often proves fatal to young plants; and, when we consider that few public nurseries are at a greater elevation than about 500 ft., the necessity of proprietors rearing their own stock, whose plantations are, perhaps, upwards of 1,000 ft. above sea-level, will the more readily be seen. There are certain difficulties to contend with in planting high-lying ground, more especially if the soil is poor and thin, and the situation exposed, and in these cases the advantage of using hardy plants that have frequently been transplanted in a well-chosen home nursery at a fair altitude is very noticeable, especially when contrasted with others that have been grown under more favourable circumstances and in a sheltered position. Some plants seem better adapted than others for this removal, but in the majority of cases the shock sustained by transferring from low-lying ground to that at a great elevation is only too apparent, and one from which the plants seldom recover. The same holds good in the case of seaside and town planting.

Of late years in particular, a good deal of comment has taken place as to the necessity of rearing trees from seed sown on the site of the future plantation, and although the suggestion has many points in its favour, still artificial planting is better adapted to the wants of our country, and is not at all likely to be superseded by natural reproduction, which is more fitted for countries differently situated from our own.

The nursery treatment of plants is, therefore, sure to remain a prominent feature of British forestry, and this being the case, the soil and situation, as well as the most successful treatment of these, with a view to producing plants suitable for the positions they are intended to occupy, will require due consideration. This will vary much according to the situation of the estate and ground to be planted. In choosing the site of a home nursery, a great deal will depend on the general elevation and exposure of the estate. The situation should neither be too much exposed nor yet too sheltered, and should have a southern or western aspect; for, although too sudden a change from sheltered to exposed ground often proves fatal to young trees, this should not altogether form a criterion for rearing them in situations unfavourable to the development of strong, healthy plants. The soil should be good, friable loam, on an open, porous subsoil; but the quality of ground required for different seedlings is so diversified that it is next to impossible to suit all within the small bounds required for a home nursery.

As water is indispensable where seedlings are raised, as well as for numerous other purposes in the nursery, it is well to have provision made for a continuous supply, either by a stream running through the ground, or in close contiguity to it, or by having a pipe laid on from the main water-supply.

From six acres to ten or even fifteen acres will be found sufficient nursery ground for most estates, but it is always advisable to add a little more than is really required, so that the brakes may not be all under forest trees at the same time, but undergo, when found necessary, a course of green crops, which will not only enrich, but clean, the ground and leave it in good condition for replanting with seedling forest plants, bearing in mind that farmyard manure should always be applied first to the green crop, and never directly to the plants themselves. When a plot has become impoverished by repeated croppings of forest trees, a heavy coating of well-decomposed farmyard manure should be applied, and the ground planted with potatoes, or sown down with turnips. This has an almost magical effect in improving, regenerating, and cleaning the ground, and leaving it in the best possible condition for receiving a crop of forest plants. Land intended for nursery ground should be thoroughly trenched to the full depth of the soil, taking care, at the same time, that the best soil is kept within a reasonable distance of the surface, and, where necessary, heavily manured or enriched by the addition of lime, vegetable soil, or loam as the case may be.

In laying out the ground into brakes it will be found convenient to have these either square or rectangular in shape and, if possible, parallel with each other. The brakes should be of different sizes, and divided from each other by walks or hedges, but the fewer of the latter the better. It is well for convenience sake to have a border, say from 12-15 ft. wide, running around the nursery, which may be stocked with such trees and shrubs as are only limited in demand. A narrow border like this is of great value, too, for planting out seedling stock of the less common kinds, for the insertion of cuttings of the rarer shrubs, as well as for any odds and ends that may be collected.

[Illustration: PLAN OF NURSERY.

Roadway, 9 ft. wide; Paths, 4 ft. wide; Border, 12 ft. wide.]

The site chosen for the seed-beds should be naturally sheltered, or failing this, such artificial shelter as is found necessary should be provided, as exposure of the young plants to cold, cutting winds causes them to become stunted and bark-bound. There should be a few cold frames for raising choice seeds and cuttings, but, as a rule, the less glass the better. In stocking the home nursery, it is always preferable to buy young plants of the kinds most needed, as also a few older specimens of such kinds as it may be deemed advisable to propagate from layers or by cuttings. Seedlings of many trees and shrubs can be procured from plantations on the estate, and when such are grown on, and carefully transplanted for two, three, or four years in the nursery borders, they soon form stout, bushy, and well-rooted specimens of the greatest value for forest-planting. This is a good and comparatively inexpensive way of getting up a stock of many trees and shrubs, but particularly such as are reproduced plentifully in a wild state. In the management of a home nursery the amount of care and attention required is certainly great; but any trouble, as well as expense, connected with starting and keeping it in good condition afterwards will be amply repaid by the increased value and superiority of the stock obtained.

In the working of the home nursery no hard and fast lines can be laid down, the nature of the season having much to do with the time at which the various operations may be taken in hand. A wet spring retards seed-sowing, a damp summer the killing-out of weeds and cleaning of the ground, and early autumn frosts transplanting.

For the various seasons the nursery-work might, however, be sketched as follows:—

=Spring.=—By February, all trenching, digging, manuring, top-dressing, and such-like work should be completed. Larch and thorn should be planted at once, as they start early into growth, following up with the various kinds of hardwoods and pines. Layers should be planted out and trees for grafting and budding made ready. Collect larch and pine cones, and when quite dry store away in a cool, airy place, until wanted for sowing. During March and April general grafting may be taken in hand. Ornamental coniferæ may be pruned and transplanted, and towards the middle of April plants from the seed-beds may safely be lined out in a sheltered part of the nursery. Tree seeds of all kinds should be collected as opportunity offers. In February sow yew, holly and thorn; in March, birch, beech and alder; in April, larch, silver fir, Scotch, Austrian and Corsican pines; and seeds of the less hardy coniferæ may be sown in pans or boxes and placed in a cool frame. General nursery-work should be finished up by the end of April.

[Illustration: TOOLS REQUIRED IN NURSERY.]

=Summer.=—The keeping down of weeds, watering and shading seed-beds, and turning over and mixing of compost-heaps will be the principal work for the months of May, June and July. Hollies should be planted out in May, and seedlings of the same kind lined out in the nursery borders.

Elm seeds may be collected as they ripen, and some of these sown in well-pulverized beds in June.

=Autumn.=—Weeds will still require attention, particularly in seed-beds, and amongst young trees that have been recently planted out. General transplanting of shrubs, particularly evergreens, may now go on, and seedlings be lined out. Cuttings should be inserted in light sandy soil by the middle of August, or when the temperature of the earth and air is most nearly equal.

Trim nursery fences, cut grass, clean walks and roads, and attend generally to neatness and order. Look over the brakes of pines, and remove and burn such as are attacked by any of the various insect and fungus pests to which they are liable. The seeds of ash, hornbeam, yew and thorn should be collected and placed in barrels with about an equal bulk of sand, to hasten the decomposition of the outer coating.

=Winter.=—The early winter months will be a busy time in the nursery, the lifting and dispatching of trees for forest-planting being one of the principal operations—at least, so long as the weather remains mild and open. As time permits, two and three year old plants should be lined out, well-rooted cuttings lifted and transplanted, and layers from old stools carefully cut away and placed in the borders for a year or two before being finally planted out. Turn manure-heaps, and add a small quantity of fresh lime to hasten general decomposition, to sweeten the soil, and deprive the seeds of weeds of their germinative properties.

Sloe, holly, and similar berries may be collected as they ripen, and stored in the usual way.

In November and December, horse chestnut, oak and hazel may be sown in well-pulverized beds of good, rich soil. Ash and hornbeam are sometimes sown in January.