ESTABLISHING FORESTS BY PLANTING 421 



12. Planting Operations in which the Opening is Made by 

 Removing the Soil Hole Planting. Hole planting is applied 

 to all methods of planting in openings made by removing the soil 

 and piling it at one side. The planting hole is usually made with 

 the ordinary spade, grub-hoe, or mattock. Many methods have 

 been developed and are in use by different practitioners, all of 

 which have for their object economical and successful planting. In 

 general, the more adverse the site, the more costly must be the 

 method selected for the regeneration. Etter l emphasizes the fact 

 that the poorer the site the more care required and the higher the 

 necessary cost of successful regeneration. He states that on ex- 

 tremely adverse sites even the most careful methods for setting 

 naked-rooted plants are unsuccessful and that "ball" planting 

 proves best and cheapest in the end. 



The planting hole may or may not be made by the workman 

 who sets the plants. Often the two operations are cond acted by 

 different workmen. In either case, however, the plants should 

 usually be set as soon as practicable after the holes are dug or 

 before the excavated soil has become overdry from exposure to 

 the air. On sour soils, particularly peat soils, the planting holes 

 should be made some months in advance of the planting in order 

 to give the excavated soil an opportunity to " weather" and be 

 in better condition as filling soil. 



In setting the plant it is held between the thumb and forefinger 

 of the left hand and lowered into the planting hole to the desired 

 depth. The best soil is worked in between the roots with the 

 right hand, after which the remainder of the filling soil is rapidly 

 brought in about the plant with a suitable tool or with the hands. 

 In filling the hole, special emphasis should be given to the following: 



a. Avoid bringing dry soil in contact with the roots. 



6. Avoid setting too deep. 



c. Avoid bringing litter and other undecomposed organic mat- 

 ter in contact with the roots. 



d. See that the mineral soil is in intimate contact with and 

 is firmly pressed about the roots. 



Although hole planting is usually much more expensive than 

 planting with the dibble, notching spade, planting lance, and 



1 Etter, P.: Betrachtungen liber die Bepflanzung der Schlage auf Siid- 

 und Westhangen im schweizerischen Mittelland. (Schweizerische Zeit- 

 schrift fur Forstwesen, S. 7-12. 1906.) 



