ESTABLISHING FORESTS BY PLANTING 425 



workman digging the holes more than it does the planter. Com- 

 pact, stony soils also check the rapidity with which the planting 

 holes can be made. On favorable sites where there is little or no 

 surface vegetation and the soil is loose and free from stones, 1 

 man digging holes can usually keep 2 planters busy. On un- 

 favorable sites where the soil is compact and overrun with brush 

 and other surface vegetation, 1 workman will dig the holes no 

 faster than a single planter will set the trees. The size of the 

 planting unit should ordinarily be as follows: Under adverse 

 cover or soil conditions there should be 1 man to dig the holes 

 and 1 to plant; under favorable cover and soil conditions there 

 should be 1 man to dig the holes and 2 to plant; and under 

 intermediate conditions there should be 2 men to dig the holes 

 and 3 to plant. 



The Department of Forestry of the State of Pennsylvania has 

 planted several million trees annually within the past decade. 

 Successful regeneration has been attained at a cost below $10 per 

 acre by planting seedling stock. Transplants are seldom used 

 and only in limited quantity. 1 Thus in the spring of 1915, of 

 4,329,321 trees planted less than one-eighth were transplants. 

 The average cost per thousand for planting was $2.96, while the 

 average cost per acre for new plantations was $8.61. The latter 

 includes the cost of the stock and the cost of planting. The com- 

 paratively low cost for effective planting is due to the use of seed- 

 lings and efficiency in planting operations. 



The effective organization of the planting crew is recognized 

 as one of the most important tasks in a planting operation. 2 A 

 poorly organized crew is difficult to handle; the work is poor in 

 quality and high in cost. The number of men in the planting 

 crew varies from operation to operation and from day to day in 

 the same operation, hence the plan of organization is flexible. 

 The crew is organized on the basis of planting units. If small the 

 planting crew may comprise but one unit. A planting crew of 

 more than three units is unwieldy. A planting unit should ordi- 

 narily include the following workmen: 



1 Report, Pennsylvania Dept. of Forestry, p. 142. 1911. 



2 The author is indebted to Prof. J. S. Illick for the account of the organi- 

 zation of the planting crews in planting on the Pennsylvania state forests. 



