168 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION 



June 



act influence in producing the final 

 result. All the more necessary is it, 

 therefore, before attributing any 

 specific influence to some one factor 

 like forest cover to consider the prob- 

 able influence of all the other factors 

 involved and their bearing upon the 



one factor in question. 



In a subsequent paper a brief ac- 

 count will be given of an investiga- 

 tion of two small drainage basins in 

 eastern New York, in which the at- 

 tempt was made to approach the ques- 

 tion in this way. 



A SUCCESSFUL ROOT PRUNING DEVICE 



Now in use at the Government Nursery in Nebraska 



BY 

 L. C. MILLER. 



Forest Assistant, Bureau of Forestry. 



D Y a careful consideration of the 

 *~* best nursery practice to be fol- 

 lowed out in the Bureau Nursery at 

 Halsey, Xeb., where there is a total 

 seed bed area of two and one-half 

 acres, with a capacity of two and one- 

 half to three million seedlings an- 

 nually, it is found that seedlings 

 should be two years old before plant- 

 ing to their permanent sites in the 

 sand-hills. It is also considered es- 

 sential to produce this two year stock 

 at a minimum cost per thousand in 

 order to -make the initial cost of es- 

 tablishing the permanent stand as 

 economic as possible. 



Transplanting increases the cost of 

 seedling production so materially that 

 it is not considered practical to trans- 

 plant the vast quantity of seedlings 

 grown in the Halsey Nursery, and 

 hence it is considered advisable to 

 rootprune all yearling stock and allow 

 same to remain in seed bed for an- 

 other year, at the end of which time 

 the seedlings will have produced a 

 vigorous root system equal, or nearly 

 equal, to transplanted stock. 



Until this spring, rootpruning has 

 not been satisfactory, owing to the 

 fact that no suitable device had been 

 hit upon to do rapid, and at the same 

 time, satisfactory work. Spades have 

 been used, but with such a tool the 





Fig. 1. Root primer, as it appears when not 

 in use. 



