friable super-addition to the soil. Moreover, in respect to injury from wind, should the Nursery be formed at, or near the outskirts of a plantation (which is rather an advantage), care must be taken, for the three first years, to leave the two outside rows unthinned, and as close as may be, both in respect to underwood and standard plants, the better to break the force of any sudden tempest. All these measures are to be taken at some convenient time between November and April; but, in situations of particular exposure, it would be prudent, on account of the winds at the vernal equinox, to postpone the trenching, until that trying season be past. In the month of April, the whole surface must be well dunged for a Potatoe crop, if possible, with fermented Peat Compost, which is the best; or, if that cannot be commanded, with good farmyard manure; and this, with a crop of Flax, or Barley, or early Oats, and with one of Hay immediately following, will more than cover the entire expense of grubbing up, trenching, and otherwise preparing the Nursery. By the end of the fourth year, the Trees that were considered as the handsomest, and were left with the largest solid spaces round them, and the longest roots, may now be removed, and others in succession, as they are found to acquire the necessary Prerequisites. Should there be then regular Transplanting work going forward, it will supersede the necessity of the Second thinning. But, in any Transplanting Nursery judiciously formed, it is not to the spade only that Trees are to be indebted, for complete Preparation. The Axe and the Hedge-bill must likewise do their office; and both are advantageously to be employed, in fashioning the tops, to whatever shape or character may be desirable. Most Trees, growing freely, are disposed to assume the conical form. To render them tall and spiral, so as that distant objects may be shown between, or under their boughs, it will be proper to cut away all the lowermost branches, or such others as seem, from their luxuriance, to rival the leading stem, leaving one short only, or main leader preeminent above the rest. It will be advisable also, to displace the branches of the sides in general, and suffer no more to remain, than are judged necessary to contain Proper vessels in sufficient number, in order to convey down the descending sap. In the same manner, if low and spreading subjects be required, to crown, for example, some bold eminence, or clothe its sloping sides, the leader or leaders of the top may be headed down, for that or similar objects; and, by skilfully repeating the operation from time to time, we shall produce or continue what has been called the clump-headed character. Let it not, however, be imagined, that the mutilating, or, what is usually called the "lightening" of the tops of Trees is by any means intended. The system here recommended is radically and characteristically PRESERVATIVE; and one of its striking merits consists, in carefully seconding, not counteracting the Laws of Nature. Her exuberant efforts, indeed, may be sometimes discreetly restrained, or specially directed, without producing those unhappy consequences, which never fail to flow from undue violence, under whatever name it may be allowed to operate. It is by the former method alone that the scientific planter will communicate to his Trees that particular character, which best suits his intentions, and thus be enabled to confer both intricacy and variety on his landscapes. In ordering the useful Nurseries here attempted to be described, the size will, of course, depend on the scale of the place, and the wants of the owner. Two acres, or three at most, would probably suffice as a repository of transplanting materials for pretty large places, with the addition of such single Trees, as will always be found in plantations of extent. But it is not necessary, nor would it, at all times, be practicable, to set apart such a space of woodland in one spot. More divisions, however, of this sort of training-ground, are just as good as fewer, if the requisite quantity be obtained on the whole, and, be the exten what it may, provided a competent degree of sa lutary exposure, but relative shelter, can be commanded at pleasure. The great point of judgment and difficulty lies in the opening up. A slow and gradual, yet, ultimately, a full exposure should be given to the plantation: But we should neither chill the Trees, by too sudden a transition to cold, from the former temperature of the wood, nor yet, by too timid a style of thinning, continue the existence of the Non-protecting Properties. Perhaps it may appear a recommendation to some, should they be persuaded to undertake this novel cultivation of woodland, that the benefits resulting from it are not wholly confined to the Removal of Trees. If the extent of the TreeNursery thus formed be two or three acres, and the Trees themselves of from twenty to thirty years' growth, then there will stand on the ground, probably, more than three hundred plants per acre, after the first thinning. Now, supposing that the land-owner, who had formed the Nursery, should change his mind as to Transplantation, and wish to dedicate the space to ordinary woodland purposes, it is to be observed, that he has as yet put himself to little or no expense, by this arboricultural improvement. The culture, which he has bestowed upon the plantation, has already made its return by ample remunerating crops; and, to whatever purpose he may think proper to turn it, the ground will still give him tolerable crops of |