ESTABLISHING FORESTS BY PLANTING 389 



31. The Advantages of Mound or Ridge Planting on Overwet 

 Sites and Under Certain Other Adverse Soil Conditions 



Where trees are planted in soil that contains free water most 

 species will not survive the planting operation. The site is likely 

 to be cold and the plants slow in starting. There is a lack of air in 

 the soil and the roots usually decay. By raising the soil into mounds 

 or ridges and setting the plants on the top of the mound or ridge 

 after the soil has had opportunity to settle, the roots are brought 

 into warmer and better drained soil. The height of the mound 

 or ridge depends upon the wetness of the soil. It should be 

 sufficiently high to bring the lowermost roots above the free soil 

 water. The cost of mound and ridge planting is usually very 

 high, but in the regeneration of wet land it is often the only recourse 

 except through a thorough system of drainage which is usually 

 even more costly. 



Stolze l recommends the following method of planting on poor 

 heath soils. .The year before the planting is done, beds 12 

 feet wide are formed by throwing up the soil from intervening 

 ditches 4 feet wide and 2 feet deep, thus raising the beds 7 

 inches above their former level. It was found that heath soils 

 where reproduction was impossible without soil treatment gave 

 good results by this method. Trees set in the beds the year 

 following their formation made excellent height and diameter 

 growth. 



Mathey 2 has successfully practiced the following method of 

 mound planting on dry, shallow, limestone soils. Mounds to 

 the number of 160 per acre with ditches intervening are thrown 

 up one year prior to planting. The soil excavated from the 

 ditches is used to form the mounds. From four to ten plants are 

 set on a single mound. Conditions in the United States seldom, 

 if ever, justify the costly methods of mound and ridge planting 

 practiced in Europe. The least expensive method of planting 

 above the general level of the soil is by throwing up double furrows 

 with the plow where the site permits. A year later the plants are 

 set on the upturned furrows. 



1 Stolze, Emil: Rabattenkulturen und ihre Erfolge. (Zeitschrift f. Forst- 

 u. Jagdwesen, S. 26-33. 1912.) 



2 Mathey-Dijon, Alph.: Hiigelpflanzung auf trockenem, flachgriindigem 

 Kalkboden. (Schweizerische Zeitschrift f. Forstwesen, S. 169-170. 1907.) 



