334 



SEEDING AND PLANTING 



leaders or those that are otherwise undesirable. They can be 

 eliminated as the stock is set in the transplant bed or field. When 

 the stock is sold or prepared for long transport, it is carefully 

 sorted and tied into bundles of 25, 50, 100, or 200 plants each 

 (Fig 94) . Except in cases where accurate count of the stock is 

 required, it should be estimated in the bed before lifting. In the 

 estimate no account should be taken of culls. The actual counting 

 and bundling of small stock is a slow and expensive operation. 



When seedlings and transplants are prepared for sale or for 

 packing and rail shipment they are usually brought to the pack- 



FIG. 95. Sorting and bundling white pine nursery stock (2-1). 

 Near Cheshire, Conn. 



ing shed as soon as they are lifted and spread out on long tables 

 where the culls and other discards are thrown out, after which 

 they are counted, tied in bundles, and heeled-in until packed 

 for shipment (Fig. 95). The culls and discards should not be reset < 

 in the nursery. They represent the poorer and weaker individuals 

 in which many of the defects are inherited. 



One workman will sort, count and bundle 1- or 2-year conif- 

 erous seedlings at the rate of from 15,000 to 20,000 in 8 hours, 

 and 3- or 4-year plants once transplanted at the rate of from 10,000 

 to 15,000. 



