128 Forest Club Annual 



PLANTING METHODS. 



The Swedish foresters have tried out various planting 

 methods on the many different sites that are found in the various 

 parts of their country. 



On Ordinary Rocky Sites 



On ordinary rocky forest sites they use the following method, 

 which, in fact, corresponds to our "middle of the hole" method: 

 The hole is dug with a mattock, and the size of the hole usually 

 depends upon the size of the plant. In planting, the loose, fine 

 soil is placed around the roots and tamped. Then coarser soil 

 is thrown in to fill up the hole. Rocks are usually placed around 

 the plant in order to protect it from trampling by stock. On 

 rocky soil one man can dig between 500 and 1,000 holes in a 

 day, and in sandy soil 1,500 holes can be dug in a day. To a 

 large extent women do the planting, and they can usually plant 

 between 500 and 1,000 trees a day. Labor is very cheap as the 

 men receive only two crowns a day, which is equivalent to $0.56 

 in our money, and the women receive only 1 crown a day. Their 

 plantings by this method, using a spacing of 1.5 meters, cost 

 from 15 to 28 crowns per hectare. The cost by this method is 

 reasonable, being from $1.70 to $3.20 per acre when a spacing 

 4.5 x 4.5 feet is used. 



In very stony ground where large holes cannot be dug the 

 "crow-bar" method is used. Very narrow holes are made so that 

 as many as 1,500 plants are planted in a day. The cost per 

 hectare varies from 15 to 18 crowns, which is from $1.70 to 

 $2.85 per acre. This method is not as expensive as the "middle 

 of the hole" method, but only small plants such as 1-0 pine and 

 2-0 spruce can be used. 



On Sandy Sites 



Planting on sandy sites is a very simple matter. A simple 

 hand implement of v-shaped nature is used in making the holes. 

 The plant is inserted in the hole and the soil pressed against it 

 with the hand implement. It is found possible to use school 

 children in southern Sweden when planting up sandy sites. 



On Grassy Sites 



On grassy sites with more or less of a clayey soil the follow- 

 ing method is used : The small plants are planted in groups vary- 

 ing from 1 to 3. The grass sod is cleared off and the hole dug 

 about 30 inches deep. The sod is placed in the bottom of the hole 



