Drying Roots of Seedlings. 315 



bench in the packing shed ; the other was placed in the full sun 

 and wind. 



At one-hour intervals (approximately the table [i] shows the 

 time to the nearest five minutes) two Red pines and two White 

 pines from the sun and from the shed were labeled with the time 

 and character of the exposure, and the roots packed in wet 

 sphagnum. 



A similar series was begun at 11.45. The interval being 10 

 minutes*, and completed at 12.45. 



The exposures, with an hourly interval were completed at 

 4.40 p. m. 



All were planted about 7 o'clock in the evening, care being 

 taken to expose the roots as little as possible, the label being re- 

 moved from the bundle and fastened to one Red pine before the 

 roots were uncovered, the four being then planted in a trench 

 in regular order, and with the sets in a regular order, as rapidly 

 as possible. The spacing was 1.5 inches on an average. 



Table I gives a correlation of the periods of exposure with the 

 meteorological data. These latter were supplied by the Observer 

 of the United States Weather Bureau at New Haven, Conn., 15 

 miles south of the nursery. 



After planting the weather was' rather favorable. The first 

 rain occurred on the 20th. The plants were not watered dur- 

 ing the progress of the experiment. Weeds were pulled oc- 

 casionally. Observations were made at weekly intervals be- 

 ginning with the fourteenth day after planting. The results are 

 shown in tables II and III. The final observations are given 

 in table III which shows the condition of the plants in each case 

 about two months after transplanting. Owing to the small num- 

 ber of plants used it is hardly practicable to give percentage re- 

 sults. It can be seen, however, that some of the plants which had 

 been exposed several hours were still living at the end of two 

 months. It is perhaps safe to say that an exposure of two 

 hours in the sun and perhaps more in the shade is not necessarily 

 fatal (though of course this exposure was in the earlier part of 

 the day.) The Red pine seems to have been affected to a 

 greater extent than the White, but it is here that the lack of an 



*Sun exposure for this series was 2 min. in shed, the rest (8, 18, etc.) in 

 full sun. 



