SUGGESTIONS ABOUT PLANTING 



113 



The shovel has been mentioned frequently as the tool to be used 

 in planting. Where the soil is deeply ploughed, well worked, and 

 free from stone, the shovel is the most rapid tool. Under other con- 

 ditions the long-handled spade, and in some cases the long-handled 

 spading fork, serves admirably in loosening the soil at the bottom 

 of the holes and in breaking up lumps while filling in. One man 

 with a shovel or spade, and the other with the fork, make a good 

 combination in this respect. 



Planting in a Furrow. A practice which has been largely fol- 

 lowed in the Sacramento Valley and which attains greatest speed 

 and cheapness consists in laying off as described on page ninety- 

 eight, and then proceeding with a heavy listing plow, followed by 

 a subsoil plow in the same furrow. The trees are then rapidly set 

 with the least digging. This is all done before the field is plowed. 

 Plowing immediately follows planting. The advantages of this 

 method are ease of work on firm ground instead of a plowed surface, 

 and escape of injury to this surface by men and teams in planting 

 after plowing. 



RANDOM SUGGESTIONS 



The roots of every tree should be examined before planting. All 

 large root ends should have a fresh, clean cut with a sharp knife or 

 shears. Make a slanting cut with the cut surface on the underside 

 of the root. Where a root is mangled or bruised, it should in most 

 cases be cut back to a sound place. 



The tree should be placed if possible with the same side toward 

 the sun as was exposed to the sun in the nursery ; at all events, the 

 wound made by the cutting away of the seedling stock above the 

 bud should be at the north or northeast, in order that this weak 

 point may be shaded as much as possible from the afternoon sun. 



If the roots of the young tree grow more to one side than the 

 other, place the strongest roots toward the prevailing wind. 



The use of water to settle the earth around the roots is some- 

 times desirable in sections where the rainfall is light or uncertain. 

 Pour in the water after the hand work in spreading the roots and in 

 pressing the soil under and around them has been done and the hole 

 partly filled. When the water has soaked away, fill the hole with 

 fine earth without tramping. In irrigated districts leading the water 

 along the line of trees in a furrow to settle the ground at planting is 

 a good practice. It is almost essential in the planting of evergreen 

 trees which are best moved during the dry season. In early planting 

 in parts of the State where the rainfall is abundant, there may be 

 no need of water-settling; in late planting, however, it will some- 

 times be found of advantage. Puddling the roots, or dipping them 

 in thin mud and planting with this mud adhering, is governed by 

 much the same conditions as water-settling; it may insure the 



