176 Care in Planting Trees 



or specimens, and especially with smaller-sized plant mate- 

 rial, less care will still produce satisfactory results. The 

 experienced tree planter will know how far under given 

 conditions he may neglect the precautions. The forester 

 who plants by the thousand or million cannot afford to ob- 

 serve all the rules, but then he does not expect to have all 

 his trees live. Planting perhaps twenty-five to thirty per 

 cent, more than he expects to start, and ten times as many 

 as will survive until harvest time, and choosing young small 

 plant material, he reduces the need of attention to the 

 details. The planter of street and lawn trees, however, 

 who desires each tree to live will be the more successful the 

 closer he follows the details and the spirit of the ideal method 

 described. 



The cjuestion as to proper time for transplanting has been 

 discussed ever since the age of the Greeks and Romans. 

 Theoretically speaking, trees may be transplanted any day 

 in the year, if the proper precautions are taken, but prac- 

 tically, it will be well to choose a time when the least care 

 is needed, i.e., during the period when vegetation is at rest, 

 fall, winter, or early spring. 



Considerations of weather may influence the choice in 

 different localities: in regions with well-marked spring and 

 summer rains, spring is the best time; in regions with dry 

 spring and rainy autumn, fall planting is indicated; misty 

 or rainy days are, of course, most favorable, except possibly 

 in compact clay soils. 



Physiological reasons make it desirable to choose a time 

 when, shortly after planting, root growth is most active. 

 This consideration would indicate the fall as the most fav- 

 orable season for deciduous trees, since with them root 

 growth continues into the winter, and besides, the absence 

 of transpiring foliage avoids a drain of moisture such as is 



