42 FOKESTATION, SAND HILLS NEBKASKA AND KANSAS. 



TABLE 11. Results of slit, square-hole, and cone methods of planting, Nebraska, 1909 



The immediate advantage of the cone method is plainly shown. 

 It is shown no less plainly that this does not prevent the trees from 

 ultimately succumbing to the competition with native vegetation. 

 Therefore, considering the much greater cost, the cone method does 

 not appear to be justified. Making a definite calculation, with trees 

 at $8 per thousand at planting time, the relative cost of establishing 

 a plantation to the age of 3 years is as follows: Slit method, $4.34; 

 square-hole method, $10.70; and cone method, $7.20. 



The slit method involves greater expense than the others for trees 

 alone. But in cost of trees plus labor it is the cheapest, and this must 

 be the final basis of comparison. This pointed to the necessity of 

 developing the slit method by trying to eliminate its bad features. 



THE TRENCHER METHOD. 



The trencher method, which is nothing more than a mechanical 

 form of the slit method, has been developed since 1909. This con- 

 sists in turning back a shallow furrow with an ordinary breaking 

 plow or with a sidehill plow. In this furrow the trencher plow is 

 run, to make a V-shaped trench from 8 to 10 inches deep and about 

 1J inches wide at the top. The trees are planted at intervals in this 

 trench, much the same as in slits, using the heel or a spade to press 

 the walls of the trench against the tree roots. The trench has one 

 great advantage over the slit, because there is more space to whisk 

 the roots to the bottom. Moreover, it is rapid and cheap; six horses 

 with plow and trencher prepare the ground for from 10 to 12 planters. 

 With a horse's labor calculated in the ratio of two-fifths of a man's 

 labor, the average day's planting per man by the trencher method is 

 1,061 trees, as against 215 for the cone, 500 for the square-hole, and 

 1,038 for the slit method. The trencher planting of 1911 was highly 

 successful and showed from 90 to 92 per cent of thrifty survivals at 

 the end of the first year. While this was due in part to favorable 

 seasonal conditions, there seems to be no doubt but that a cheap and 

 efficient mechanical method of planting may be developed. The 

 trencher method is certainly the least expensive. Where cost is not 

 a consideration, the cone method is the one to use. 



