22 



DETAILS OF PLANTING. 



Planting should be done in spring as soon as the frost leaves the 

 ground. In this way the trees receive the benefit of the early rains 

 and escape the danger of frost heaving. While the ground may be 

 prepared by agricultural implements, planting must still be done 

 by hand. Each plant should be set deeply and firmly and with as 

 much care as if the success of the whole plantation depended upon it. 



PLANTING MATERIAL. 



Certain trees, like willows and cottonwood, are cheaply and suc- 

 cessfully grown from cuttings. Cuttings should consist of 1 or 2- 

 year-old twigs cut from vigorous trees. They should be of conven- 

 ient length about 10 inches and should be as nearly uniform in 



| age, shape, and size as possible. They can be cut in fall after the 



j leaves have dropped, and kept in well-drained soil till spring, or 

 they can be cut in early spring before growth begins and set out at 

 once. 



If the area to be planted is low and wet, and the soil porous, the 

 cuttings can be stuck in without any previous preparation of the 

 ground. On drier sites, the soil should be broken up and pulverized. 

 Vertical holes should be made with a spike or dibble to receive the 

 cuttings. After the cuttings have been inserted, the earth should 



I be firmed down upon them. Not more than 2 inches of the top of a 

 cutting should protrude from the ground. Care should be taken 



'that the buds point upward instead of downward, that is, that the 



'cuttings be planted right end up. If cuttings are taken from seed- 

 bearing trees they produce seed-bearing trees again. If taken from 

 staminate trees the resultant trees will be sterile. 



The best results with other species are obtained by planting small 



I trees with roots that are large in proportion to their leaf surface. 



i Nurserymen usually classify trees according to their height in inches. 



I This, however, gives the purchaser no idea of the quality of the 

 stock. Seedlings may be tall and lanky, and have no roots, or they 

 may be short and stout, and have a full, dense root system, according 



( to the way in which they were grown. Wild plants from the forest 

 are not equal to carefully grown nursery stock. At the end of the 

 first year coniferous seedlings can be transplanted from the seedbeds 

 into nursery rows for two years more ; or they can be left in the seed- 

 bed for two years and then transferred for another year to the nurs- 

 ery rows. While nearly all conifers grow slowly for the first few 

 years they may be smaller at three years than some deciduous trees 

 are at one 3-year-old stock is large enough and strong enough to 

 give good results. Older trees are more expensive and less success- 

 fully handled. In case of broadleaved species transplants are not 

 always necessary. 



[Cir. 145] 



