THE ART OF THE SECOND GROWTH 



prairies or on abandoned fields. It involves the danger of recklesa 

 spreading of roots and of loose imbedding of the plant in loose soil. 

 The plants are also apt to be placed too deep and to be shaken 

 badly by wind. The method, however, yields good results in case of 



I. Stump planting (Oak, Locust, Catalpa). 



II. Planting many one-year-old seedlings (so that a large per- 

 centage might be lost without great damage in the end). 



HI. Plants not injured by deep planting (not for White Pine 

 and Spruce). Plants placed too deep form a second root system 

 close to the surface and develop a bushy bole, useless in forestry, 

 pleasing in a garden. 



At Biltmore, the furrow method was used by Pinchot at the 

 Shiloh Crossing plantation. A modification of the furrow method- 

 was used at the Rice farm in 1903, where deep furrows were drawn, 

 the plants inserted by hand, covered by hand and adjusted by 

 hand. A planting machine (Dr. Fernow's and Rodman's), resembling 

 a tobacco planting machine, is not used. 



B. Planting in holes. The holes are either holes dug with the 

 spade, or clefts wedged into the soil. Most planters mulch the roots 

 in loamy water so as to increase their weight and so as to reduce 

 their spread before insertion into the hole. The root fibres suffer 

 from this mulching, however, being braided unnaturally. The root 

 tips should not be bent upward. The depth and width of the hole 

 should correspond with the actual size of the root. Several plants 

 might be placed in the same hole to save expense. Theoretically it 

 is best to place each plant in the center of its hole. At Biltmore, 

 however, planting in the lower edge of the hole is preferred because: 



I. No root is bilaterally developed. 



II. Planting at the edge is the best preventive against deep 

 planting, the planter holding the plant with the left hand at the 

 point of differentiation against the edge of the hole, when drawing 

 with the right hand the dirt required to fill the hole. 



III. Such plants are firmly imbedded and are less shaken by the 

 wind. 



On forest soil it is wise to place the top dirt dug from the 

 hole around the root tips, and the bottom dirt of the hole close to 

 the surface. The workmen should be shown daily by the forester 

 how to plant. It is of the utmost importance to pulverize and 

 loosen the dirt first, and to then press and beat it tightly with fist^ 

 heel or mallet around the roots. Some planters give a trifle of 

 forest humus into the hole; others carry fertile garden dirt in 

 baskets to the plantations. The placing of stones on the hole (as 

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