Out.—In laying out the nursery, some taste may be exercised by the planter; the sections and blocks should be distinct, and alleys should be located at convenient distances, so that all parts may be easily accessible with the wagon. The rows should be laid out straight, and they ought to be far enough apart—four feet might be a good average for nursery trees; cuttings and seedlings may, of course, be nearer. The trees should not be set too closely in the rows, one foot apart is plenty close enough for most kinds, and that is little enough room for the development of good lateral branches, or for those which have to remain three or four years before transplanting. For peaches, for dwarf pears, and indeed for any of the varieties that are to be taken from the nursery as maiden trees, a less space may be allowed—say eight inches apart. Apple stocks for budding, or for collar grafting, may be set ten inches apart, and they will have room to make very good plants, even should they remain until two years old.
Most nurserymen set out their apple grafts in the rows where they are to be grown to full size, and cultivate them from two to three years; while this saves the trouble of transplanting, the trees will not be as well assorted for size, nor will they have the benefit of the transplanting, (which will enhance their value much more than it costs, in the improved character of their roots), as have those that have been treated on the bedding plan, practiced by some nurserymen. This consists in setting the root grafts closely together, in a bed of very well prepared ground; they are covered at once with a good mulching of sawdust, which keeps the ground moist, and insures the growth of almost all the plants, while for the first season they occupy very little space, and are readily kept clean, as the mulching prevents the growth of weeds. In the fall, or in the following spring, they are taken up, assorted for size, and re-planted in the nursery-rows where they are to stand. This transplanting improves the character of their roots, which are more fibrous and shorter than in those trees which have stood three or four years without being disturbed. Purchasers, now-a-days, begin to look at the roots of their trees, as well as the tops; and it may become necessary for the nurserymen to gratify this fancy for low-headed, stocky trees, that have abundant fibres to insure their growth, and their early fruitfulness.
Culture of the nursery should be thorough; the soil should be frequently stirred, and kept mellow and loose, to insure cleanliness and thriftiness, and to make handsome trees. The mellow soil upon the surface, is, by some persons, considered equal to a good mulching, and indeed it answers the indications of one. Cultivation, to kill the weeds as fast as they appear, will admit both air and moisture; a share of both of these is retained by the mellow earth, which, thus treated, is indeed a very good mulch. The cultivation may be done with the small turning plow, with the double shovel, or with any of the many approved cultivators in use everywhere throughout the country. The surface should be kept as level and even as possible. In some soils the roller, made short enough to pass between the rows, is highly esteemed, and is considered a most valuable implement in the nursery. As a general rule, cultivation should not be continued too late in the season, but should be suspended about mid-summer, so as to prevent a late growth and to encourage the plants to finish their summer's work in time to ripen their wood thoroughly before the advent of winter. This is particularly necessary where the climate is severe, especially on new lands, where the trees are very vigorous. Upon the approach of winter, it is a good practice to plow a light furrow against the trees on each side; this protects the collar from cold, prevents heaving by the frost, and gives a good surface drainage to excess of water.
For deeply loosening the ground between the rows, the one-horse subsoil lifting plow is a very valuable instrument; this can be used in very narrow spaces. This plow prepares the ground admirably for the pronged hoe, and it may be used between rows of cuttings and seedlings.
The Pronged Hoe.—One of the most valuable implements in the nursery to clean out the weeds from between the trees, and also to work among cuttings, and other plants, that are set too closely for the use of the horse, is the pronged hoe; it makes the best shallow culture, prevents the soil from becoming hard, and it is the best destroyer of small weeds that can be used. The flat hoe is never sharp enough to cut all of the weeds effectually, it produces little tilth, and the result of its use is too often a disappointment, but half killing the weeds, in some places, and dragging them out by the roots in others, and often leaving the ground hard and in miserable condition.
Fig. 24.—THE PRONGED HOE.
Planting Cuttings.—Some of the small fruits, as currants, gooseberries, as well as the quince, are propagated, to a great extent, by cuttings. The ground for growing them, should be very well prepared by trenching or trench-plowing; the difference in the growth between cuttings set on well or on poorly prepared ground is astonishing, and the advantage in favor of trenched land is sufficient to pay for the extra expense bestowed upon the preparation. The soil should be rather sandy, decidedly loose and mellow, and rather moist than dry.
In setting the cuttings, the rows may be quite close, as horse labor is seldom employed among them; but they are tended by hand, or the ground is mulched. They may also be set quite thickly in the row, as they are to remain but a short time in the cutting bed, from which they are transplanted at one year old, though sometimes alternate rows may be left over another season. When the trench is opened for them, the cuttings are set, three or four inches apart, next the line, so that only the top bud shall reach the surface; a little mellow soil is thrown upon them, and they are tramped firmly at the base, when the remainder of the earth is thrown in and the next trench is opened for another row. If they be planted in the autumn, it is well to cover them with a mulch, and for this leaves from the forest are an excellent material. Some propagators insist very strongly upon the necessity for removing all the buds from the lower portion of the cutting, particularly in the currant and gooseberry, so as to prevent suckering and to grow the bush as a miniature tree, with a single stem. This is not desirable when the bushes are liable to have the stems destroyed by the currant borer. Indeed, the nature of the currant appears to require a renewal of the wood by these shoots, which come to replace the old exhausted branches.
The grape is grown in immense quantities from cuttings, which are either planted in a nursery, or set at once in the vineyard. In the former they are planted closely in rows, that are about twenty inches apart. Sometimes the ground is trenched, and the cuttings set at the same operation. When the first trench is opened in a rich mellow loam, which may be sod or clover lea, the edge of the dug soil is dressed to the line with the spade, then the cuttings are placed so as to have one eye at or above the surface, and soil is thrown in and tramped closely to the base of the cuttings. Then the next trench is made with the spade, digging the ground as you proceed.
Grape cuttings are generally made eighteen or twenty inches long; and those which have a heel of old wood are preferred, and command a higher price. The earlier these are taken from the vines, after the fall of the leaves, the better success will attend the plantation; provided they are not too long exposed to the air. Fall planting is very desirable, but if not then planted, the cuttings should be put into the ground and covered as soon as convenient, and they will be better prepared for spring planting. A deep trench is opened, into which the bundles are set in a vertical position, and loose earth filled in about them, and slightly covered over them; they will then be ready for planting by the spring. The length of the cuttings has latterly been much reduced, with advantage; some of the most successful planters make them from six to eight inches long: these are much more easily dug than the longer slips, and are better provided with roots.
Trimming should be practiced in the nursery with a definite object in view, and not at random; much less with any expectation of increasing the hight of the trees by trimming them up. The object in pruning nursery trees should be to develop them in every part, to produce a stout stocky sturdy little tree, one that may be turned out upon the bleak prairie, and be able to withstand the blasts. To produce this result, the leaves should never be stripped from the shoots to make them extend their growth, for the sake of making more leaves; the nurseryman should know the value of leaves, as constituting the great evaporating surface that plays a most important part in causing the ascent of the crude sap, and also in its
