104 PRINCIPLES . OF AMERICAN FORESTRY. 



nursery should be about four feet apart, and the cuttings 

 about six inches apart in the rows, though a much less 

 distance may sometimes be sufficient. In packing the 

 soil over the cuttings great pains should be taken to get 

 it very solid around the lower end, and if the soil is very 

 dry, the firmest pressure of the full weight of a man over 

 the base of each cutting is not too great; in fact, when the 

 soil is dry, it cannot be made too firm over the cutting. 

 When the soil is moist, however, only enough pressure 

 should be used to bring the particles in close contact and 

 close up the air-spaces. 



The Cultivation of Cuttings should commence shortly 

 after they are planted, and the top soil should be kept 

 loosened to the depth of about three inches, which, while 

 not disturbing the solid soil around the base of the 

 cuttings, prevents evaporation from the soil. 



Time of Planting Cuttings. Spring cuttings may be 

 planted at once where they are to grow. Autumn cuttings 

 may be planted out at once, provided the land is not wet, 

 but when planted at this season they should be covered 

 with soil turned toward them with a plough. In the spring 

 this covering should be raked off before the buds swell. 

 The ground being warm in autumn often causes autumn- 

 planted cuttings of some kinds to root before cold weather 

 sets in, and if made up before the first of October they 

 may thus score quite a gain over spring-planted cuttings. 

 If not desirable to plant in the autumn, the bundles of 

 cuttings may be kept over winter buried in moist soil, 

 preferably that which is somewhat sandy, where there 

 is no standing water; but much care should be taken 

 to keep them from drying out. To this end the bundles 

 should be buried so as not to touch each other, and have 

 two or three inches of soil packed in between them. If 

 they are kept in a cellar, moist sawdust will be found 

 to be good material to keep them in, 



