FORRST NURSERY PRACTICE 159 



Root Pruning'. 



Root pruniug has been practiced at Halsey to a considerable extent. 

 Tlie practice has been to place a U shaped blade on a Planet, Jr., seed 

 drill so that the blade will cut from 6 to 8 inches beneath the surface. 

 The machine is run by two men pulling and one pushing. This force 

 could root prune two beds per days with trees set in cross drills and 

 about 30,000 trees to the bed. There can be little doubt but that root 

 pruned stock is far superior to unpruned stock so far as the root system 

 is concerned but most authorities believe that the system as practiced is 

 not as advantageous as transplanting. Root pruning is followed in many 

 commercial nurseries by using a machine drawn by horses which slight- 

 ly resembles a slush scraper but works underground. The form of the 

 trees of the same age grown as seedlings in the open, seedlings under 

 half shade, root pruned stock and transplant stock has been found to 

 vary greatly and it is to be hoped that some system of root pruning 

 can be devised that will be cheaper and fully as effective as transplanting. 

 Root pruning gives the best comparative results with deep rooted species. 



Transplanting-. 



Seedling stock is usually transplanted at the end of the first or 

 second year of growth but sometimes at the end of the third season for 

 slow growing species. Several methods have been used, of which the 

 following are the most prominent: 



1. Dibble method. 



2. Furrow method. 



2. Spade method of slit trenching with hand planting. 



4. Spade method of furrowing with board planting. 



5. Trencher method of slit trenching with board planting. 



The dibble method is performed by using a dibble eight to ten inches 

 long so as to give plenty of room for the root of the seedlings. The soil 

 should be moist enough so that the dibble hole will retain its shape, 

 and the seedling should be planted by pushing the roots of the seedling 

 into the hole with the end of the dibble. The operation is completed by 

 placing the dibble about two inches away from the planting hole and 

 pressing the soil toward the first hole. This fills the first hole and makes 

 a hole for the second seedling in the same operation. In light sandy 

 loam, a man may plant at the rate of 600 to 1000 trees in ten hours of 

 hard work. 



The furrow method for bent roots consist of making a furrow and 

 bending the roots rather than trimming any off. The trees are placed 

 two inches apart and it is estimated that one man can transplant 3000 

 trees per day by this method but this seems to be an overestimate. The 

 method is used by C. S. Harrison of York, Nebraska, and is described in 

 a bulletin of the Nebraska Park and Forestry Association. 



The spade method of making slit trenches and transplanting by 

 hand is used occasionally in small nurseries and is an experiment in 

 large nurseries. Tt is slower than the trencher method and not as satis- 



