EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETINS 133 



two feet or more in diameter wherever a small tree is planted. In most places the 

 ground is already somewhat shaded by trunks of small trees. In this case no 

 preparation is needed, possibly, excepting the reduction of neighboring bushes the 

 better to expose to liglat the young tree you are planting. Bear in mind that this 

 planting anew has to be done but once for all time, and the work should therefore 

 be well done. 



After setting the young trees what care will they need? 



liigidly keep out fire and grazing animals. While your choice saplings are yet 

 small, pass over the ground from year to year and lop off the tops of the surround- 

 ing bushes, if they reach much above those you are caring for. If two branches 

 to the main trunk are very nearly equal in size, cut one ofE or remove a part of it, 

 thus sending more vigor into the remaining branch, that a straight trunk may be 

 produced. After the trees have grown so large that a crop is to be harvested there 

 are two ways to proceed. One is to cut off every tree of any value and allow 

 sprouts or seedlings to renew the forest, the other is to keep taking out from time 

 to time a tree here and there as it is needed, leaving the rest to grow. On hilly land 

 the latter method is always preferable. 



Evergreens are best ])lanted just as the buds are pushing in the spring; other 

 trees may be planted in the spring or fall, while they are destitute of leaves. 



For setting out seedlings that are six inches to a foot high in unplowed ground 

 if the obstructions are not too numerous, two men with long-handled dibbles and a 

 boy to handle the plants kept moist, can plant from four to five thousand per day, 

 enough for seven acres of land. The boy should carry with him a mixture of trees 

 of several kinds. The man thrusts a dibble into the ground, a seedling goes into 

 the hole, the dibble is thrust again into the ground and pried toward the young tree, 

 closing in the earth about it. If the earth is packed a little about the tree all the 

 better. 



Chestnuts, acorns and the like, should be planted one in a place, about two inches 

 deep, where the trees are needed. This should be done usiially in the spring, for 

 then there is less risk of destruction by squirrels. The nuts may be kept over 

 winter without loss of vitality, by burying on high land in twice their bulk of sand. 



An experienced gardener knows that the roots of a young tree when exposed 

 to dry air will live just about as long as a trout or a black bass in the same 

 situation: the inexperienced or thoughtless person might lose most of his labor in 

 tree planting by not knowing this fact. 



The trees to be set sliould usually be four to twelve inches high. At this size 

 they cost less, can be more easily planted and are more likely to make good trees. 



As a guide to the selection of trees for each kind of soil or location, plant those 

 species that formerly grew in such places. Chestnuts, if planted, should be 

 placed in soil that is sandy or gravelly, high enough and well drained. 



I suggested that the boy helping in the work should carry a mixed bunch of the 

 trees, that the different kinds be grown together. But why mix them, you ask? 

 Trees so planted are less liable to the attacks of insects or fungi; less liable to loss 

 from fire or wind; they economize the room above the soil and below the surface 

 to better advantage. Their likes and dislikes are not just the same. Pines, beeches, 

 oaks, maples, box elders and some others will hold their lower branches covered 

 with living leaves very well in the shade, while ashes, walnuts and chestnuts are 

 impatient of shade and cannot be grown closely enough together to keep out grass 

 and weeds. It would be a mistake to attempt to grow white ashes or chestnuts by 

 the acre, each sort by itself. 



I shall not here attempt to produce a complete treatise on growing and managing 

 seeds and seedlings, but a few words seem necessary. 



In case you fail to secure seeds or to grow seedlings when you need them, they 

 can be purchased at very low prices of some nurseryman. The man who has 

 little horticultural tact will find it cheaper to buy; the man who has the tact needs 

 little instruction from me. To grow seedling evergreens and other delicate things, 

 secure a spot not likely to become very dry nor to become flooded with water. The 

 soil should be good, with a surface of i-ich sandy loam or leaf mold. Above this 

 should be shade. This spot should be but little exposed to wind. With a little 

 care such places may be selected in almost any forest, though, the spreading roots 

 are in the way and draw out the moisture. To produce the shade it T^^^ill cost but 

 little to set or drive posts five or six feet high, and from the tops of one to the 

 other put on horizontal strips or poles, on which throw gome fine brush destitute of 

 leaves. Here you can grow seedlings with siiccess. Sow the seeds in rows six to 



