Reforestation of Brush Fields 81 



reasonable to assume that a young tree would endure our long 

 droughts much better if it were placed in the shade of the indi- 

 vidual brush plant. 



The trees were planted about 6 feet apart each way, but this 

 arrangement could not be strictly adhered to on account of the 

 distribution of the individual brush plants. Holes were dug with 

 a mattock and behind the digger came the planter with a canvas 

 water bucket containing seedlings. Each pail contained a few 

 inches of water to keep the roots of the seedlings constantly moist. 

 A small area in the shade of the brush was selected which was 

 free from dead branches, rocks, etc., where a man could work 

 with a mattock and where planting could be done without much 

 preliminary work. The two crews averaged from 250 to 275 

 trees per man per day, but often the work was a good deal slower 

 than this, especially in the dense brush. 



WEATHER CONDITIONS AT THE TIME OF PLANTING 



Weather conditions at the time of planting, in the opinion of 

 the writer, is one of the most important factors which determines 

 the initial success of a plantation of this kind. On the east slope 

 the days were bright and clear. At noon the temperatures were 

 very high, while ever>' night the temperatures fell below the 

 freezing point and sometimes as low as zero. In peculiar con- 

 trast to this the weather on the west slope was mild. The days 

 were mostly cloudy. On one or two days it rained and snowed. 

 The days were usually warm and the nights cool ; only on one or 

 two occasions did the thermometer reach freezing point. The 

 Incense cedar. Sugar pine, the Yellow pine (1-2) and about 1,000 

 of the Yellow pine (1-1) were snowed under for six days prior 

 to planting. Following the snowstorm, the weather became very 

 mild and the snow melted oflf completely. The planting work 

 was then completed, although without doubt the trees had suffered 

 considerably from the exposure. From this it will be seen that, 

 except for the snowstorm, weather conditions were much more 

 favorable on the west slope than on the east slope. Doutbless 

 this had a considerable bearing on the success of the respective 

 plantations ; at least the plantation, which was made under the 

 unfavorable conditions, did not succeed. 



