TRANSPLANTING 47 



(6) Treatment of Seedlings. 



As a rule, most seedlings must be moved from the seed- 

 beds when i year old ; in certain cases they may remain for 



2 years (or even 3 years occasionally) before they are moved. 



Beech, Spruce, Silver Fir, Hawthorn, and Holly are 

 usually left 2 years in the seed-bed ; Silver Fir occasionally 



3 years. All other forest trees are usually transplanted 

 when i year old. Corsican Pine, P. pinaster, Spanish 

 Chestnut, Black Walnut, Oak, Norway Maple, and Sycamore 

 should always be transplanted when i year old. Other trees, 

 except as stated, should be transplanted at i or 2 years of 

 age, according to the growth their roots have made. 



Any tree, unless it is going to remain permanently where 

 sown, requires this transplanting, to induce the formation of 

 fibrous roots. If left in the seed-bed, a long tap-root is 

 generally formed and very few fibrous roots. If such a 

 tree be dug up and planted, it will probably die. 



The trees are transplanted into lines about l 8 inches apart, 

 and the trees 3 to 4 inches apart in the lines. Thus there 

 can be about 100,000 to 125,000 to the acre. 



Before transplanting, any long tap-root must be cut off 

 with a sharp knife to about 4^ inches in length. This will 

 usually be necessary with Oak and Spanish Chestnut and 

 Walnuts. The usual method in transplanting is to make a 

 trench about 9 inches deep and with a vertical side ; the 

 seedlings are then held against this side, and the earth put 

 back over the roots, which must have a vertical position. 

 It is most essential that the roots never get doubled up, 

 as they will never straighten again. The trench must be 

 deep enough to take the full length of the roots, and the 

 roots of any seedlings more than about 7 inches in length 

 should be cut off with a sharp knife. 



Instead of getting out a trench to plant the seedlings in, 

 a wedge-shaped opening may be made with a broad (specially 



1 The lines should never be further apart than is absolutely necessary, 

 as the cost per 1000 for weeding is enormously increased if the lines 

 are far apart. 



