Some Aspects of Buropean Forestry. 495 



expense, and of per cent, of loss during the first year. * * * 

 Unfortunately their value has never been judged by the true 

 standards of thriftiness and yield; else it would have been clear 

 long since that all these devices fail in the essential of normally 

 planted roots. 



"The 'instrument methods' date from a time (the middle of 

 the past century) when the enormous increase of planting had 

 to be justified by a reduction in cost. This reduction the var- 

 ious devices accomplished and the higher cost of planting by 

 hand seemed justified only it it was indubitable that the results 

 were surer and better than by the use of planting instruments. 

 Decades were needed to bring this proof of the superiority of 

 hand planting in the actual stands ; during these decades every- 

 one strove for a cheapening of the planting process. Each 

 forest region developed its peculiar methods which, specifically in- 

 tended for local conditions, never were suited for general ap- 

 plication. 



"Visualize the processes of planting by means of variously 

 adopted wedges, hatchets, hammers, crow-bars, etc., in all their 

 details! How can these methods possibly secure the natural 

 placing of the roots, the correct depth and horizontal position? 

 Not only are the well-developed lateral roots whose length often 

 exceeds by far the width of the narrow planting hole, forcibly 

 twisted together and wedged in, but also the depth of planting 

 can not be controlled, so that the plant is often buried up to its 

 lowest branches and then belabored with various heavy utensils, 

 by way of 'firming' it. Even the simple workman says 'This 

 can not be good' and he is surely right, but the process is cheap 

 and this fact brings it acquittal before the judgment seat of 

 theory and of practice." 



In the same work, Oberforstiat Reuss points out clearly the 

 dangers of too deep planting. This error, he shows, is still most 

 common, despite repeated warnings of forestry authors since 

 Von Carlowitz, two hundred years ago, called it "the greatest 

 evil of planting." Aside from plentiful instances of ignorance 

 or carelessness, this error is traceable to the hope that by abnor- 

 mally deep planting, the roots would be brought nearer the per- 

 manent water level and so enabled to survive periods of drought. 

 In a measure this result is secured, but at enormous cost ; for the 

 roots set in this sterile, cold and insufficiently aerated stratum soon 



