THE FOREST NURSERY 109 



Nurserymen sometimes heel-in plants to await shipment. 

 If it is carefully done, and they are not allowed to remain 

 in that condition too long, little injury may occur ; but it 

 is by far the best way to let them remain where they grew 

 until the day of shipment arrives. However, it will be bet- 

 ter to heel them in than to let them start to grow in the 

 beds before removal. Neither should they be kept long 

 enough in the heeling-in state for growth to begin. The 

 practice of taking plants up in the fall and heeling them 

 in has nothing to justify it. It is true that by so doing 

 they can be kept dormant in the spring and allow greater 

 time to handle and transplant ; but that can be accom- 

 plished just as well by taking them up in early spring. It 

 is little better than fall planting, which is not deemed good 

 practice. Only cold storage will meet the case. 



Removal of the Plants to the Forest. The best 

 method of taking up the plants has already been indi- 

 cated, but it should here be added that immediately on re- 

 moval from the ground in the nursery they should be 

 placed in some receptacle and evenly stratified with wet 

 moss and kept carefully covered until set out in the forest 

 or heeled-in. The roots must not be exposed to sunshine, 

 drying air, wind, or frost. They must at all times be kept 

 moist and the least time possible should elapse between re- 

 moving the plants from the nursery and placing them in 

 the ground where they are to grow. 



Setting the Plants in the Forest. Presuming the 

 ground to have been properly spaced, two men and a boy 

 should be in readiness to begin work on the arrival of the 

 plants. One of the men should have an ordinary mattock 

 with which to dig the holes, which he should make large 

 enough and deep enough to give the roots ample room. A 

 few strokes of the mattock will do this, but some earth to 

 mingle with the roots should be made fine by the man 

 using the mattock. The other man should receive a plant 

 from the boy who is carrying a quantity of them in a 

 bucket, where their roots are submerged in thin mud, and 



