PULLING 137 



mon one is a special plow pulled by horses. This plow 

 contains two beams, one on each side of the row. These 

 are connected by a special U-shaped share which runs 

 under the row cutting off the roots from sixteen to eighteen 

 inches below the surface of the ground. The share does 

 not lift the trees but passes on under them leaving them 

 upright in their original position but loose enough that 

 one man may easily pull them out. The other two types 

 of diggers differ mainly in the kind of power used. Where 

 steam power is used the engine is stationary, and the share 

 is pulled across the field with wire cables. This method 

 makes it necessary to plant the trees in blocks of only a 

 few hundred feet across so that the cables will not be too 

 long. It is also necessary to carry the share back each 

 time as it will dig the tree3 only one way across the field. 

 More recently gasoline tractors have been designed for this 

 purpose with far better results than either of the other 

 methods. With the steam outfit illustrated in Fig. 63 

 seven men are required for the operation, while with the 

 tractor two men will do the same work and the trees can 

 be dug both ways across the field. Long rows can be 

 handled as easily as the short ones. As many as five to 

 ten thousand trees an hour may be dug with one of these 

 machines. 



Pulling. After the digger has passed under the rows 

 the next step is to pull out the trees and place them in piles 

 ready for hauling to the storage shed. The trees are lifted 

 out, the soil shaken from the roots, and a hasty examina- 

 tion made for root knct or defects that would spoil the 

 sale of the plant. The poor ones are discarded and the good 



