﻿COTTONWOOD IN" THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 55 



seedlings may be bundled together in bunches of fifty or a hundred 

 and the roots covered with wet burlap or wet sphagnum moss. The 

 tap-roots of vigorous seedlings may often be too long to handle 

 easily. In such cases they should be cut with a sharp knife 12 inches 

 or less below the root collar. If they can not be planted for several 

 days they should be " heeled in " in a trench deep enough to bury 

 the roots and part of the stems. The trench should run east and 

 west, with its south bank somewhat sloping. The bundles of trees 

 should then be placed side by side in the trench on its sloping side, 

 their tops toward the south, and their roots and stems 'covered 2 or 3 

 inches deep with fresh earth dug from the opposite side of the trench. 

 A second layer of trees should then be put in and covered as before, 

 and the process repeated until all the trees have been heeled in. 



Cuttings -are used in establishing most cottonwood plantations. 

 The quality of cuttings depends very largely on the character of the 

 parent stock, since a cutting will display essentially the same growth 

 characteristics. Cuttings for planting in the central or southern part 

 of the valley should be obtained "from that region rather than from 

 the far north. Cuttings from trees in regions of low rainfall, such as 

 the valley bottoms of Nebraska or Kansas, would not be as suitable 

 for planting in the Ohio Valley region as stock obtained from the 

 central Mississippi Valley. Again, if planting is to be done on good 

 bottomland soils, the cuttings should not come from ornamental 

 trees growing on comparatively upland situations. Particularly 

 where cutting stock is purchased from commercial nurseries, the 

 planter should make sure that the parent trees are of the right kind. 



The best cuttings are obtained from vigorous growing trees, pref- 

 erably from the branches near the top. It may sometimes be possible 

 to obtain cuttings of good quality from trees which are removed in 

 a thinning, provided, of course, only the more thrifty intermediate 

 trees are used for the purpose. Cuttings taken from the current- 

 year's growth are superior to those from older parts of the branch. 

 Two-year-old wood, however, will usually be found entirely satisfac- 

 tory, but wood older than this should not be used. Root cuttings are 

 vigorous, but are difficult to obtain. 



A convenient length for cuttings is about 18 inches, although under 

 certain conditions the length may range from 10 to 36 inches. They 

 should be made immediately after the tree is felled, in order to pre- 

 vent the drying out of the twigs. In making them it is preferable 

 to cut the twig off at a slant of about 45° with a thin-bladed, sharp 

 knife. In this way one .avoids crushing the stem or loosening the 

 bark. Care should be exercised that none of the buds from which 



