SITE AND SOIL FOR THE NURSERY.--A somewhat elevated position should be selected for the ground that is to be appropriated for the production of trees; the surface water should be able to escape rapidly, instead of standing in the paths, and furrows, and trenches. The fresh air should be able to blow freely over the young trees, swaying them about, trying their fibres, and at the same time giving them new strength and vigor: not that they should be too much exposed to the rude blasts, as they might be upon the vast savannas of the West, where a protecting belt of deciduous and evergreen trees, to a moderate extent, will be found of service, and conducive to the healthy development of young trees in the nursery. But even the naked prairie, exposed for miles in every direction, would offer a better location for the nursery, than a few acres cleared out among the heavy timber. Here the little trees, if crowded together, must be drawn up to meet the light, and will be poorly furnished with lateral branches, and unprepared to meet the rude battle with the elements that awaits them in their future orchard homes, which, indeed, too often become rather their graves, into which they are thrust, buried, not planted, and whence they rise no more, but after a fruitless struggle, dwindle and die. A somewhat elevated situation is also valuable, on account of its greater probable immunity from frost, than a lower level; and this is often a matter of great importance in the successful cultivation of fruit trees. The soil should be a good strong sandy loam, one that contains the needful elements for the growth of trees, and at the same time has a composition that will freely permit the passage of water through it, and be easily worked by the cultivator. Heavy soils, abounding in clay, are strong; but they are more retentive of water, they require more labor to keep them in a friable condition, and they are sometimes objectionable on account of the character of the roots produced in them. These are less abundantly furnished with fibres, as a general rule, when the tree has been grown in a stiff clay, than when it has been produced in a lighter and more porous soil. Mucky soils are too light, and should not be used for permanent nurseries, though valuable for seedlings, cuttings, and newly transplanted forest evergreens for a short period; unless the muck be underlaid by clay, and that it is near enough to the surface to be reached in the preparation of the soil, and to become mixed with its staple in cultivating it. Trees, for the orchard, should never be grown upon a mucky or peaty soil.