38 PLANTING OF WHITE PINE IN NEW ENGLAND. 



after some practice, only one or two) or an edgewise thrust with the 

 spade, is sufficient. Two men can work to advantage in each row, one 

 digging the holes and the other planting. The man with the spade or 

 mattock, after turning up the earth, should at once go ahead the re- 

 quired distance and make another hole, using- care that the earth be 

 not scattered but be as nearly as possible a cube, and placed close to 

 the edge of the cavity. The planter should follow immediately behind. 



The planter should carry in a bucket several hundred young trees. 

 the roots of which have just previously been puddled. At each hole 

 he should with one hand place the roots of the tree in the cavity, while 

 with the other he lifts the portion of earth which has been removed 

 and brings it down upon the edge of the cavity opposite the tree with 

 sufficient force to break the sod. This process tines the soil and scat- 

 ters it about the roots of the tree. With the same movement the sod 

 should be replaced, and the planter should then with his heel firmly 

 press the soil about the roots of the tree. 



By following the above instructions two common laborers should 

 plant from 1,200 to 1,800 two or three year old seedlings per day, 

 provided the soil conditions are favorable. 



In planting it is advised that occasional strips 12 feet wide be left- 

 open, to be used as fire lines in case of emergency, and also to be used 

 as driveways and wood roads. 



TREATMENT AFTER PLANTING. 

 PRUNING. 



Many of the existing plantations have been pruned, but seldom in 

 the most advantageous manner. At East Greenwich, R. I. , the larger 

 trees have been carefully pruned, but at a cost which shows the opera- 

 tion to have been such as to make it impracticable from an economic 

 standpoint. At Bridgewater, Mass., in a plantation not described in 

 this report, stubs an inch or two long were left protruding from the 

 stem. Such pruning is most harmful; the rough surfaces give an 

 excellent opportunity for borers or fungi to work from the limb-butt 

 into the stem. 



Correct pruning is of great value. It changes inferior to first-class 

 lumber. It should be done about ten years after the trees have been 

 planted, before the limbs have died. The trees will then average 

 from 10 to 15 or 20 feet in height. They should be trimmed as high 

 as can readily be reached with a hand ax. Pruning should be done 

 in July or August, when there is just enough secretion of pitch to 

 cover the wounds, preventing the access of air and excluding fungi. 

 The cut should be made close to the stem, to insure a thorough cover- 

 ing of pitch and the more rapid healing of the wound. The healing 

 over and complete disappearance of the wound is then very rapid. In 



