SEEDS SOILS TRANSPLANTING 49 



Because of the danger of pleasing field mice if 

 nuts are planted in the fall and in order to avoid 

 stratification as an intermediary step I have con- 

 structed a number of galvanized iron wire cages 

 eight inches in depth, three feet or more in length, 

 and about two feet in width, furnished with a lid of 

 the same material. These cages are set in rows to a 

 depth of four or five inches and are then filled to 

 ground level with sandy loam. The nuts are planted 

 in these cages in the fall, preferably. During the win- 

 ter the nuts are covered with a light mulch of leaves 

 which is removed early in the springtime. A part 

 of the shell of the nut is exposed to changes of tem- 

 perature, light and moisture, and this has given the 

 best results of any method which I have employed. 

 Although sprouting under the circumstances is 

 doubtless due in part to the unequal contraction and 

 expansion of the exposed part of the shell, that fea- 

 ture would hardly apply to thin-shelled chestnuts. 

 Nuts which have sprouted in the galvanized cage 

 are allowed to grow there for a year, where they 

 may be readily weeded and given a little fertilizer. 

 The only enemies which have attacked them under 

 this sort of protection have been ants and army 

 worms just at the time of sprouting when the shells 

 first burst open. A little dusting with wood ashes 

 has sufficed to drive the ants away without injuring 

 the plants. Army worms will gather under a hand- 

 ful of loose trash during the day and may be re- 

 moved by hand. Some species of nuts which start 

 into activity with difficulty, like those of the tree 



