HOW TO PLANT 69 



munks, mice, and blue-jays that would eat the seeds) 

 because of the uncertainty of the result. 



Seedling trees are raised in a nursery where they 

 can be protected and cultivated. It is often wise to 

 plant these seedlings in permanent plantings, although 

 it might be difficult to convince the man who wished 

 to "see a tree during his lifetime" of the truth of 

 this statement. A few facts in this connection may 

 be of value. Small evergreens planted after a man 

 was fifty years old have grown to be seventy feet 

 high while he could still see them, that is during 

 a period of about thirty years. Willows, cotton- 

 woods, and soft maples have grown to three feet in 

 diameter in periods ranging from thirty to forty 

 years. Elms under favorable conditions will grow 

 from one-half to three-fourths of an inch in diameter 

 and several feet in height each year. Even oaks 

 grow with considerable rapidity. Seedlings cost 

 very little, often less than one cent apiece, and they 

 will grow into trees worth dollars in a very few years. 



Seedlings can be planted by sticking a spade 

 into the ground to make an opening, placing the 

 root in this opening, and then sticking the spade 

 in the ground again and pressing the earth against 

 the roots of the young plant. It may be well to 



