FORESTRY ON THE COUNTRY ESTATE 



359 



sown in rows instead of broadcast as 

 in the garden nursery beds, and are so 

 spaced as to allow the seedlings room 

 enough to become vigorous plants on 

 their original planting site. Moss is 

 kept over the seed rows until the sprouts 

 appear and then placed between the 

 rows to keep down weeds. Owing to 

 the northeast exposure, the growing 

 conditions imitate Nature very closely, 

 having only the morning sun direct, and 

 the rest of the sunlight is filtered 

 through the trees along the south wall 

 of the nursery after noon. In this way 

 the young plants make a hardy, if slow, 

 growth, without the necessity for han- 



V 



a 



YOUNG OAK TRANSPLANT IN ITS FIRST YEAR. NOTE 

 ROOT SPREAD DUE TO CUTTING TAP ROOT. 



dling shade crates daily, and, as they 

 grow in the same soil they are trans- 

 planted to in the main forest, they have 

 no unaccustomed soil conditions to re- 

 adjust themselves to later. It is a well- 

 known fact that domestic vegetables and 

 trees will not succeed at all in forest 

 soil, because it is too sour and too lack- 

 ing in the bacterial growth that these 

 plants require to thrive, and the reverse 

 is undoubtedly true as far as my own 

 observation goes. Nursery forest trees 

 raised in rich vegetable soil have been 

 so modified in their root habits that they 

 have a lot of adjusting to do and lose 

 several years doing it before they take 

 hold of raw forest soil. 



The matter of cutting the pivot root 



is of such importance that the writer 

 would be in favor of root pruning in 

 the soil sooner than omit it entirely. 

 Left to themselves all forest tree seed- 

 lings follow their natural instincts and 

 send down a deep tap root, not for food 

 but for protection against being pulled 

 up by the roots by the first rabbit that 

 nibbles their tops. A young fir will 

 send down a root twelve times as long 

 as its trunk above ground, and all the 

 other species from four to six times as 

 long. These roots get a firm hold on 

 the mineral soil but contribute little to 

 the nutriment of the young tree, for all 

 the feeder roots must seek their food in 



YOUNG OAK SEEDLING WITH TAP ROOT CUT, READY 

 FOR TRANSPLANTING. 



vaporous form in the humus under the 

 mat of dead leaves, where the warmth 

 of the sun and air above can produce 

 vapors suitable to enter the litttle root 

 buds. Now we know well that our 

 seedlings will never need their tap roots 

 for protection, so, upon transplanting, 

 we snip this root, thus forcing the plant 

 to put out its feeder roots forthwith. 

 The result upon the growth of the plant 

 is inconceivable to one who has not 

 actually seen it done. Our illustrations 

 show the contrast between young oak, 

 ash, fir, pine and spruce seedlings with 

 and without their tap roots cut. Note 

 the far greater growth and vigor of 

 those with the tap root removed. In 

 commercial nurseries this is done with- 

 out digging up the tree by what is 

 known as root pruning, i. e., the spade 

 is driven into the ground all about the 



