i8 FOREST PLANTING. 



Planting (Outplanting). It is well to work systematically 

 though no more than a couple of thousand trees are to-be set. 

 As soon as the trees are brought on the ground mix a "puddle" 

 and put the roots in it, leaving the tops in the air. "Puddle" 

 is simply thin mud, preferably made of clay and water. It can 

 be mixed in a tub or in a shallow pit. Provide baskets lined 

 with wet moss or burlap, or pails, to carry the trees, and a 

 heavy mattock or grub hoe for each planter that is all. Bas- 

 kets are lighter. If mattocks are not available, spades may be 

 used, but not to dig holes ; that costs too much, a cleft in the 

 ground is enough. If the turf is close, or weeds very dense, "scalp" 

 a square foot of ground where each tree is to stand. 



Clefts. A satisfactory cleft is most easily made by driving a 

 hoe or mattock, having a blade nine or ten inches long and five 

 inches wide, deeply into the ground, raising the end of the han- 

 dle and slightly twisting it to loosen the earth below, then lifting 

 the loosened clod an inch or two as the mattock is. withdrawn. 



Fig. 7. Cleit Planting. The mattock should be driven in as shown by solid 

 lines, then raised, as shown by broken lines, before it is withdrawn. The 

 tree at right shows how the roots are embedded when cleft is closed. 



A spade driven straight down and then worked back and forth 

 from the handle serves the same purpose, though less speedily. 



Crew. Crews of two planters and one boy to hand trees to 

 them, with a man to set the line stakes for several such crews 

 and to puddle the trees, are most effective. 



Lining-out. Let the line man set two stakes in each line, one 

 at the edge of the plantation, the other 50 feet or more inside it. 

 The planters then take their places at the opposite side of the 

 plot and in line with the pairs of stakes. 



