1728

ARBORETUM AND FRUTICETUM.

PART III.

are to be kept, they should be made perfectly dry in the sun, or in an airyshed, mixed with dry sand, in the proportion of three bushels of sand to onebushel of acorns, or with dry moss; and then excluded from the air andvermin, by being put into barrels or boxes, or laid up in a cellar, or buried inheaps, and covered with a sufficient thickness of earth to exclude the weather.If the acorns are to be transported from one country to another, the samemixing with dry sand or dry moss, and exclusion from the air, is adopted;but the more certain mode of retaining the vital principle in acorns is, to mixthem with moist earth, or with moist live moss (Sphagnum): in either ofthe latter mediums, they will germinate during along voyage; but no evil willresult from this, provided they are sown immediately on their arrival. Whenacorns are to be sown in a nursery, the soil ought to be thoroughly preparedand rendered fine ; and, after the earth is drawn off the beds, or the drillsopened, the acorns may either be scattered over the beds, or along the drills,so that the nuts may be about 2in. apart; and, to regulate this distancewith greater certainty, the sand may be separated from the acorns witha sieve. In either case, the acorns, before covering, must be patted downwith the back of a spade in the beds, and with the back of a wooden-headedrake in the drills. The covering, which ought to be of well-broken soil,should vary in depth, according to the size of the acorn ; 1J in. being enoughfor those of the largest size, such as those of the groups Ifobur, A'lbae, &c.;and Jin. for those of the smaliest size, such as those of the groups /'lex,/’hellos, &c. No mode of depositing acorns in the soil can be worse thanthat of dropping them in holes made by a dibble. The acorn drops intothe hole, and becomes wedged by its sides before it gets to the bottom; and,if the upper extremity of the acorn should be downwards instead of upwards,it can hardly be expected to grow. For this reason, the dibber should onlybe used in pulverised soils; and the point of the instument should be of adiameter greater than the length of the largest acorn which has to be droppedinto the hole. As acorns are greedily devoured by vermin, and especially byland rats and mice, they ought to be sown in an open part of the nursery, notnear hedges, ditches, or houses; and where, whether in nurseries, or in fieldsintended to become oak woods, much danger is apprehended from vermin,they ought not to be sown till late in March, so as to lessen the period be-tween the depositing of the acorn and its becoming a plant.

As all oaks, when young, are remarkable for throwing down long and vigo-rous taproots, and producing few lateral ones, they ought to be sown wherethey are finally to remain, especially if the subsoil be good, and other cir-cumstances not unfavourable; but, as this cannot always be the case, it iscustomary among nurserymen to transplant the oak at one or two years’growth, removing great part of the taproot; some of them, however, shortenthe taproot without removing the plant, by inserting the spade obliquelyin the soil, so as to cut through the roots, at from 6 in. to 8 in. beneaththe surface; an operation most conveniently performed when the oaks aresown in drills; because in that case the spade can first be inserted all alongone side of the drill, and then all along the other. The French nurserymen,when acorns, walnuts, and other tree seeds which send down very long tap-roots, are to be reared with a view to being transplanted, sometimes germinatethem in moist earth, or in sawdust, placed in a temperature of 50° or 60°;and, after the radicle has been protruded two or three times the length of theacorn or nut, pinch off its extreme point before the seed is committed to thesoil. This treatment, which is applicable, as we have seen in the case of thehorsechestnut (see p. 466.), to most large-seeded trees, has the effect of im-mediately causing the taproot to throw out numerous lateral fibres; whichis highly favourable for transplantation, though it is not so for the rapidgrowth of the tree for the first year or two afterwards. To counteract itseffect in this respect, when the tree is planted where it is finally to remain, andhas grown there two or three years, it ought to be cut down to the ground ;after which it will throw up vigorous shoots, and send down perpendicular