FIELD PLANTING. 41 



It was used at Halsey for several years, and while a part of the 

 early failures may be accredited to the method, not a little was due to 

 carelessness of individual workmen, as shown by the differences 

 between adjacent rows in the plantations. At any rate,, it did not 

 appear to be adapted to sand-hill planting, because it did not give 

 the roots enough opportunity to obtain moisture. 



The slit method was practically abandoned in 1908 for the square- 

 hole method, which had first been tried the previous year. 



THE SQUARE-HOLE METHOD. 



The square-hole method of planting makes use of a hole a foot deep 

 and 7 inches square. Because of the looseness of the soil the hole may 

 be dug with from three to five strokes of the spade, the earth being 

 piled on one side. A second man follows the digger, setting the trees 

 by simply holding their stems at the proper height in the center of 

 the hole and pulling the earth in around the roots with the other hand. 

 This method, in the hands of the average workman, has all of the 

 disadvantages of the slit method, except that there is little danger of 

 the root tips being left near the surface of the ground. Since the 

 digger has no knowledge of the actual size of the tree to be planted 

 in any individual hole, he makes all holes of a certain depth. While 

 many are deeper than necessary, not one is deep enough for those 

 trees which, by good fortune, reach the field with long roots, which 

 have to be coiled in the bottom of the hole. Furthermore, there is 

 nothing to prevent all of the long roots being crowded together into 

 a cordlike mass when the earth is thrown in around them. 



Therefore, in spite of the greater expenditure which was being 

 made to give the trees careful planting, it was soon found that the 

 square-hole method was not materially improving the results. 



THE CONE METHOD. 



As a result the cone method was tried, and with great success. It 

 is similar to the square-hole method with this addition after the hole 

 has been dug the planter makes a mound or cone of earth in the 

 bottom of the pit, spreads the roots around this cone, and weights 

 them in place with a small quantity of earth before pulling in the 

 larger mass. This keeps the roots separate and gives them access to 

 greater soil space. There is a reduction of loss immediately after 

 planting, but later, when the roots of grasses and other native vege- 

 tation begin to crowd into the space needed by the tree, its advantages 

 disappear, and if the tree is not firmly established nothing can save it. 



Table 1 1 compares the success attained with the three methods of 

 planting in 1909. 



