CHAPTER XIV 



THE FOREST NURSERY (Continued) 

 1. The Lifting and Later Treatment of Nursery Stock 



EVERY operation from the lifting of the stock in the seedbed or 

 transplant bed to the resetting in the nursery or field requires 

 care and attention. The roots should be injured as little as 

 possible in the lifting and the stock should be stored under condi- 

 tions which afford adequate air and moisture. At no time should 

 the plants, particularly the roots, be exposed to direct sunlight 

 for a longer period than necessary. When the roots have been 

 severely bruised or broken in lifting or when the plants have been 

 injured in transport through lack of aeration or overdrying, more 

 or less loss is to be apprehended when planted. It is not enough 

 for plants to barely survive the planting; they ought to thrive 

 from the first. The vigor exhibited by stock set in the trans- 

 plant bed or forest plantation depends very largely upon the 

 condition of the stock when planted. The loss incurred in trans- 

 ferring nursery stock from the seedbed to the transplant bed 

 should not exceed from 5 to 10 per cent. If greater, nursery 

 practice should be modified to overcome this loss. The loss in- 

 curred in transferring the stock from the nursery to the forest 

 plantation is much less under control and depends upon a large 

 number of variable factors. If the loss from a given method of 

 practice exceeds 25 per cent, it should ordinarily be abandoned 

 for one more certain of success. 



Nursery stock should be set in the transplant bed or the field as soon 

 as possible after lifting. The greater success attained in recent 

 years in planting conifers in Nebraska and elsewhere under adverse 

 climatic conditions is largely due to planting the stock soon after 

 lifting. Bates and Pierce 1 recommend that special care be taken 

 that the fine soil particles be left adhering to the roots as the plants 



15 Bates, C. G. and Pierce, R. G.: Forestation of the sand hills of Nebraska 

 and Kansas. (U. S. Forest Service, Bui. 121, p. 33. 1913.) 



326 



