44 BULLETIN 475, U. S. DEPARTMENT OP AGRICULTURE. 



PLANTING TOOLS. 



The planting tool most commonly used on the National Forests is 

 some type of the grub hoe or mattock. The spade, ax, and field 

 trencher are used only slightly. Various modifications of the common 

 type of mattock and grub hoe found on the market have been tried. 

 The blades have been narrowed and lengthened ; they have been bent 

 so as to form a right angle with the handle, which has been thought 

 desirable for planting on slopes ; handles with a slight S curve have 

 been used instead of the common, straight ones; mattocks, one of 

 whose blades is a pick, have been found efficient in heavy, rock}? soil; 

 and tools with shortened handles have proved satisfactory in loose 

 soils, where each man of a crew digs the hole and plants the tree also. 

 In most planting operations a mattock with a blade from 10 to 12 

 inches long seems desirable. For all varieties of soils and conditions 

 encountered these are unquestionably the most efficient planting tools. 

 They are sufficiently heavy to be used without bending or breaking in 

 any soil where planting is at all practicable, and they can be used in 

 the hole, slit, or grub-hoe method of planting. The mattock has a 

 cutting edge which is useful in severing roots, and its blade is efficient 

 for tamping the soil around the plants. 



The spade is the next most efficient planting tool. In very loose soil 

 it serves better than any other, either in the slit or the hole method 

 of planting. On very hard, heavy, rocky, or gravelly soils it can not 

 be used to good advantage and sometimes not at all. The short- 

 handled tools are preferable, but any of them are likely to break 

 eventually either in the blade or in the shank. 



On the Pike National Forest a planting bar has been devised for 

 work on rocky areas where the grub hoes could not be used advan- 

 tageously. The bar consists of a steel shank 10 inches long I inch 

 thick, 2 inches wide at the point, and 4 inches wide at the shoulder 

 inserted in a 1 j-inch hollow handle. The entire weight is 12 pounds. 

 After one season's work it is declared to be, for such areas, a decided 

 improvement on the grub hoe. 



The ax can be used only in the slit method of planting in loose soil 

 or in heavier soil which is free from rocks and not covered with turf. 

 It can not be used successfully in rocky soils. It is not considered 

 desirable nor recommended under an}^ circumstances because the cleft 

 made with it is not sufficiently deep to accommodate fully the roots of 

 most stock used in field planting. Where this method has been fol- 

 lowed, the handle has been cut off to a length of about 20 inches. 



Weight is an important consideration with any tool in securing 

 efficient work, and especially in increasing the rate of work. A 

 certain number of motions are necessary in clearing off the surface 

 of the ground, digging the hole, and working up the soil, whether 



