370 HORTICULTURE, FORESTRY, FLORICULTURE 



planting work. However, the price of Red Pine seed and the cost of 

 nursery plants, place Red Pine out of our consideration at present. 

 Scotch Pine seed is quoted by a German dealer at 85c. per pound, 

 while an American dealer quotes Red Pine seed at seven dollars per 

 pound, and is unable to fill orders. The following comparison of 

 prices of planting stock may be of interest in this connection. These 

 prices are for season of 1906-07, and are quotations per thousand at 

 point of shipment, for plants fit for final planting. Better quotations 

 may be had for 10,000 or 100,000 lots. 



Size and Quality of Plant. We have come to think of the opera- 

 tion of planting trees as very laborious and expensive. The average 

 person in this country thinks that the operation consists in digging a 

 large hole and placing in it a tree or sapling of from six feet to twelve 

 feet in height. On the other hand, the forester uses a small plant 

 from 6 inches to 18 inches high for the following reasons: The 

 smaller plant does not cost as much as the larger. It is less expensive 

 to place in position. Its chances of becoming established are better 

 than in the case of the larger plant. In moving and planting the 

 small seedling or transplant, the root sytsem of the plant does not 

 become as greatly injured as is the case with the larger plant. 



Nursery Gtown vs. Native Planting Stock. Nursery grown 

 planting stock will in most cases be more advisable than that taken 

 from the native woods. A seedling taken from the woods has had the 

 protection of surrounding trees ; it has a loose, ranging root system 

 which must necessarily be considerably injured in lifting to trans- 

 plant. In most cases it will cost more to collect plants growing scat- 

 tered throughout the woods than it will to buy them from nursery- 

 men. The nursery grown plant is specially treated to stand the hand- 

 ling necessary in making plantations. It is grown in the open with- 

 out protection, and by transplanting has been made to develop a 

 compact root system. The more compact the root system, the easier 

 it is to place it in final position in the ground and properly cover the 

 roots. 



Time of Planting. The transplanting or moving of a plant is 

 an operation which seriously affects the constitution of the plant. It 

 should be done at a time when it will least affect the growth of the 

 plant. If the transplanting can be carried out without disturbing the 

 soil about the roots of the plant and without subjecting the plant in 

 its new surroundings to new conditions, the operation might be per- 

 formed almost any month of the year. As this is impossible in 



