FARMERS' INSTITUTES. 81 



away from a buneli of plants and then pry up. This loosens the soil 

 around them and they may then be pulled up carefully. The care used iu 

 pulling is dependent upon the looseness of the soil, for much less damage 

 to the roots is done, when they are pulled from loose, light soil, than 

 when they are lifted from compact, heavy soils. 



After the plants have beer^taken from the ground the roots must not 

 be allowed to dvy out, even a little, since this is very bad for the plants. 

 To prevent this, the plants are laid in piles, roots together, and covered 

 immediately with any damp or wet cover which is most convenient. 

 Old blankets, pieces of carpet, or even bags, may be wet and used for 

 this purpose, or the piles may be lightly covered with damp earth, but 

 some protection must" be given, or else the plants will be badly injured, 

 especially in sunny or windy weather, for the fine roots are very easily 

 dried out and these are the ones which feed the plant. After a suffi- 

 cient number of seedlings are ready to be taken to the planting place, 

 they may be put into a box, root ends together, upon a layer of damp 

 earth or other substance, and covered with wet blankets, andv then 

 moved. 



In removing the plants from the box, which is best done by taking out 

 only a few at a time, the roots should be jjlaced in a pail of puddled soil, 

 so as to insure their being sufficiently moist wiien put into the ground, 

 and to prevent drjing while being taken to the planting place. The 

 puddled soil is made by mixing water and fine soil, muck is best, into 

 a thin mud. This should be stirred until smooth and the roots of the 

 seedlings, as many as the pail will hold, placed in it, and they can then 

 be taken to the place where they are to be set out. In planting, the 

 work can be most quickly done by two people, one to make the hole 

 and cover, the other to carry the plants and put them in place, holding 

 them while the roots are covered. The roots may be covered only a little 

 deeper than they have been in the seed bed, and the earth slaould be 

 pressed firmly down around them. Two men, or a man and boy, can 

 in this way, plant from 1,500 to 4,000 trees in a day, that is, if some tool 

 other than a spade is used for making the holes and covering. 



If the plantation is made on plow^ed ground, it maj' be well to cul- 

 tivate until the ground is shaded by the trees, which should be in two 

 or at most in three years, with broad-leaved trees, somewhat longer 

 with conifers. This cultivation is not probably necessary in our State, 

 but would tend to hasten the growth of the plantation by preventing 

 the growth of weeds and by conserving moisture. From this time on, 

 the plantation Avill care for itself until it is several years old, depending 

 again on species and upon site conditions, when it will be necessary to 

 go through it and remove the poorer trees, those which are getting the 

 worst of the crowding process, which will begin as soon as the trees 

 have covered the ground. At this time also, it will often pay to remove 

 the dead branches of the trees left, as this sort of pruning prevents 

 damage later from rot, which finds its way through the dead branches 

 to the heart-wood of the tree, and also helps to increase the value of 

 the timber by leaving the older wood free from knots. 



Of course, it is not necessary to state that timber plantations in all 

 stages of growth, should be kept free from fires and that under no cir- 

 cumstances should they be used for pasture, for the damage resulting 

 from such use-would not only be considerable at any stage of growth 

 11 



