110 Botanical Department. [Bulletin 108 



trees should be in the spring, after the frost has left the ground. In 

 the Gulf states, however, fall planting from the nursery row is possi- 

 ble. 



THE PERMANENT PLANTATION. 



The land for the permanent forest should have been under cultiva- 

 tion for at least one year. Prairie sod turned under early in the sea- 

 son, and allowed to remain 'until the following spring, will answer the 

 purpose if put into a good state of cultivation. If land previously 

 in cultivation be used, it should be thoroughly and deeply plowed 

 the preceding fall, and well harrowed just before time for planting. 

 The land is then marked off in one direction, with lines running the 

 distance apart at which the trees are destined to stand in the row. In 

 the opposite direction, and at right angles to these lines, dead furrows 

 are run ten to twelve inches deep, as far apart as the rows are to stand 

 in the plantation. At the points of intersection of the marked lines 

 and furrows the trees are planted in the furrows, at a depth some- 

 what exceeding that at which they stood in the nursery rows. The 

 planting may readily be carried on in the following manner : The 

 bundles of young trees may be handled by one person, who sets them 

 in place at the intersections, followed by a second who shovels the 

 soil over the roots and presses it down. In this manner it is claimed 

 that 2000 trees a day can be planted. The furrows should now be 

 filled in with a plow. 



Cultivation should be continued until about the last of August, to 

 retain the soil moisture and keep down the weeds. Any weeds that 

 appear after August will be caught by the frost before they go to 

 seed. It must be remembered that a forest plantation requires in its 

 early stages the same care and cultivation as a corn crop, and this care 

 in the case of catalpa must extend over the first three or four years of 

 the tree's life in the forest. During the first year, intermediate crops, 

 such as corn, cow-peas, soy-beans, etc., may be groWn between the 

 rows, thus paying for the cost of cultivation. In the Yaggy planta- 

 tion, at Hutchinson, Kan., two years after setting out in the permanent 

 forest, the trees are cut down to the ground. From the stumps, ex- 

 ceedingly strong, vigorous and very straight sprouts spring up. Of 

 these the best ones are permitted to grow. It is the experience there 

 that trees thus treated form post timber quite as early as those which 

 have not been cut back, and that they show, moreover, a distinct 

 tendency to produce a smoother and straighter trunk. The question 

 remains, however, whether the timber from such rapidly growing 

 shoots will possess the lasting qualities of the more slowly grown 

 wood. 



The question as to the most profitable distance at which to set the 



