62 SOWING AND PLANTING IN THE FOREST 



there is not much danger of their being smothered. The 

 woodman must decide .for himself, after considering the local 

 circumstances, which plants are best. 



Plants either with balls of earth or with naked roots may 

 be used, but the former are expensive to move, and in the 

 vast majority of cases naked rooted plants are preferable. 



Season for planting. Planting must be carried out in 

 autumn or spring, as the plants are at rest in these seasons, 

 and both temperature and moisture of air and soil are then 

 favourable. 



There are points in favour of both autumn and spring 

 planting. If planted in autumn the trees get a good hold of 

 the ground before growth commences, and may start growing 

 rapidly early in spring ; on the other hand the trees, especially 

 conifers, may be blown about by high wind, and may be 

 damaged by frost and snow. If planted in spring they escape 

 this damage, and, if the weather is damp, the trees become 

 established rapidly. Should, however, the weather be dry for 

 a month after planting, the failures may be numerous. If 

 there are a very large number of trees to be planted it would 

 be difficult to get them all into the ground before the end of 

 April if the work is only begun in spring. In practice, there- 

 fore, planting should be carried on in all open weather from 

 November to April 15, avoiding January and February, and 

 commencing with the broad-leaved deciduous species and 

 larch in autumn, and ending with the evergreen conifers in 

 spring. Douglas fir succeeds best when planted in April. 

 Corsican pine, which forms very few roots, is a difficult tree to 

 transplant, and does best when planted as two year old seed- 

 lings in the last half of October or April. No planting should 

 be done when there is a frost or cold cutting wind. 



Lifting plants and transit to the woods. From the time the 

 plants are lifted in the nursery till they are safely planted in 

 the wood every care must be taken to prevent the roots be- 

 coming dry, as on this depends to a great extent the success 



