338 SEEDING AND PLANTING 



layer of branches spread over the top. A rude shelter of branches 

 is erected over the pit. Plants can be held for many weeks in a 

 dormant condition under this shelter. 



7. THE TRANSPORT OF NURSERY STOCK 



In packing nursery stock for transport the weather conditions, 

 distance, and time in transport musj) Jbejcpnsidered. Careful pack- 

 ing and protection must be given when the transport is during 

 warm, dry weather. In cold weather the plants must be protected 

 from freezing. When the stock is a long time in transport, there is 

 danger of its becoming overdry unless well packed with the roots 

 protected by an abundance of moist, but not wet, moss. If the 

 tops of evergreens are not exposed to the air, the plants are likely 

 to mold or the centers of the bundles become heated and worthless. 



If the distance of transport is short, as is the case where a home 

 nursery is maintained to grow stock for planting in the immediate 

 vicinity, the plants may be packed in a wagon or other vehicle 

 for transportation and taken directly to the planting site. They 

 may be placed in the wagon box, in planting baskets, or in large 

 packing cases or boxes. 



When seedlings are moved from the seedbed to a nearby trans- 

 plant bed, the plants are carried in baskets, pails, boxes, or other 

 convenient receptacles. 



When weather conditions are such that the roots will not be- 

 come overdry during the operation of transplanting or field plant- 

 ing, they should not be placed in water or " puddled" as this 

 tends to wash the fine soil from them or mass them together. 

 When there is danger, however, that the stock will suffer from 

 exposure to sun and wind, it is best to drench it with water, place 

 it in tubs or buckets of water, or subject the roots to a puddle 

 made of clay. Mayr 1 states that young nursery stock can lie 

 in cold water for an entire week without appreciable detriment to 

 its vitality. 



When nursery stock is not more than one or two days in transit, 

 it may be placed in large, covered hampers or baskets or in boxes 

 that afford sufficient ventilation, but without moss or other pack- 

 ing. The plants are arranged so that the roots overlap and pro- 

 tect each other, wjiile the tops are exposed to the air. These 



1 Mayr, Heinrich: Waldbau auf naturgesetzlicher Grundlage. S. 405. 

 Berlin, 1909. 



