GROWING TREES FROM SEED 



159 



The coming spring after the danger from "heaving" of the soil has 

 passed the burlap should be removed. During the summer the beds should 

 be kept free from weeds and freely supplied with water. The two-year-old 

 beds do not need covering during the winter. 



When the seedlings are two years old they are suitable for planting in 

 the field, where there is but limited shade, and upon fair quality of soil. If 

 larger and stronger trees are necessary they should be transplanted in the 

 nursery. The seedlings should be taken up carefully in order not to injure 

 any roots and the roots at all times kept from exposure to sun or wind. 

 The transplant beds should be about seven feet wide and any length, but 

 fifty feet has been found convenient. The paths should be two feet wide 

 and the beds almost four inches higher than the paths. The "Yale Planting 

 Board," invented by Prof. J. W. Toumey, has proved a most valuable tool 

 and greatly reduced the cost of transplanting. The work with this board is 

 carried on with five men in a crew using two boards. The board consists of 

 two strips hinged by arms at right angles, one of them continuously notched 

 the space the trees are to be apart in the rows. In this the trees are placed 

 and upon it the other closes, holding them in place. Two men are employed 

 digging the trench, two placing the seedlings in the boards and one man 

 carries the board to and from the trenches. While two are filling the boards, 

 two others are making the trenches into which the fifth man places the 

 board filled with trees, then the soil is packed around the roots and the 

 board removed. The trees are placed rapidly and regularly and the roots 

 in normal position. The trees should be three inches apart in the rows and 

 the rows six inches apart. This process is continued until the transplanting 

 is completed. 



The care during the season consists chiefly in weeding and watering in 

 times of continued dry weather. A careful watch should be kept for insect 

 pests or ground grubs. If the trees are not sufficiently large at the end of 

 the one season in the transplant bed, they may be retained there another 

 season. 



When the trees are ready for field planting they should be carefully taken 

 up to prevent any injury to the roots, promptly "heeled in" and^ finally 

 planted as soon as possible. Spring planting is, as a rule, more desirable 

 than fall planting. The trees, if shipped even a short distance, should be 

 carefully packed in order to prevent any drying of the roots. If shipped a long 

 distance they should be packed right, the roots packed in moss and sufficient 

 openings left around the upper parts to prevent heating. 



