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Seed Nursery for Oak and Forest-Tree Seedlings (Evelyn's Sylva, 1706)
John Evelyn's 'seminary' for timber trees: acorns, beech mast, ash keys and nuts sown in shallow rills two feet apart in a fenced, sheltered plot, thinned and mulched, and grown on for two or three years into young trees ready to plant out.
Beginner
Two to three years
Instructions
1
1
His figures
His figures
Loading Jupyter Notebook...
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2
Read Sylva
Read Sylva
"A very small plantarium or nursery will in a few years people a vast extent of ground."
3
3
Choose and prepare the plot
Choose and prepare the plot
Pick ground that is well fenced, facing south-east rather than full south, sheltered from north and west. Break it up the winter before sowing so it mellows (deeper in clay), as you would for wheat, or trench it with a spade. Stir it again just before sowing.
Tools needed:
Spade4
4
Gather the seed
Gather the seed
Gather acorns, beech mast, ash keys or nuts when they drop ripe, from fair thriving trees. Keep each kind apart.
Materials for this step:
Acorns1 piece5
5
Sow in rills
Sow in rills
At the end of October (or about February on lighter ground), when the soil is moderately dry and not raining, open rills 4-5 in deep in straight lines 2 ft apart. Drop the seed in not too thick, or set nuts and acorns one by one like beans, and cover well with a rake. Six bushels of acorns sow an acre at a foot apart.
Materials for this step:
Acorns1 pieceTools needed:
Hoe
Iron Rake6
6
Water and earth up
Water and earth up
Water gently into a shallow basin round each plant, never with a strong stream on the stem. After hard frosts earth up the young plants that the swelling soil pushes out.
Tools needed:
Watering CanHoe7
7
Thin and prick out
Thin and prick out
When the seedlings are about an inch high, in moist weather draw them where too thick and prick them into empty beds a foot apart, leaving the rest 2 or 3 ft apart.
Tools needed:
Spade8
8
Mulch and grow on
Mulch and grow on
In June dig lightly between them and scatter half-rotten litter, fern, bean haulm or old leaves to keep the roots cool and moist; chop it into the soil the next March. Repeat for two or three years, until the kernel's food is spent in the plant.
Materials for this step:
Straw1 pieceTools needed:
SpadeHoe9
9
Lift and cut back
Lift and cut back
Take up the young trees with care for their roots and, where the kind will bear it, cut the stem to within an inch of the ground; plant them where they are to grow. Some cut again after March of the second year at half a foot. Use a very sharp knife and do not loosen the root.
Tools needed:
Spade
Pruning Knife10
10
Troubleshooting
Troubleshooting
Seedling troubleshooting.
Flow
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11
History and honest limits
History and honest limits
From John Evelyn, **Sylva, or a Discourse of Forest-Trees** (text of the 1706 edition, London reprint 1908), Book I, Chap. II (checked on the archive.org scan sylvaordiscourse01evelrich, pp. 12-17). The metric figures are ours.
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