_Qui Vineas vel Arbustum constituere volet, Seminaria prius facere
debebit_, was the precept of Columella (de Arb., cap. 1), speaking of
vineyards and fruit-trees; and doubtless we can not pursue a better
course for the propagation of timber-trees. For though it seem but a
trivial design, that one should make a nursery of foresters; yet it is
not to be imagined, without the experience of it, what prodigious
numbers a very small spot of ground, well-cultivated, and destined for
this purpose, would be able to furnish toward the sending forth of
yearly colonies into all the naked quarters of a lordship, or demesne;
being, with a pleasant industry, liberally distributed among the
tenants, and disposed about the hedge-rows, and other waste and
uncultivated places for timber, shelter, fuel, and ornament, to an
incredible advantage. This being a cheap and laudable work, of so much
pleasure in the execution, and so certain a profit in the event, when
once well done (for, as I affirmed, a very small plantarium, or nursery,
will, in a few years, stock a vast extent of ground), has made me
sometimes in admiration at the universal negligence; as well as raised
my admiration, that seeds and plants of such different kinds, should,
like so many tender babes and infants suck and thrive at the same
breasts; though there are some, indeed, will not so well prosper in
company, requiring peculiar juices. But this niceness is more
conspicuous in flowers and the herbaceous offspring, than in foresters,
which require only diligent weeding and frequent cleansing, till they
are able to shift for themselves; and as their vessels enlarge and
introduce more copious nourishment, they often starve their neighbors.