10 BULLETIN 153, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



fnl with walnut, butternut, ash, silver maple, red and bur oaks, black 

 cherry, and white, Scotch, red, and pitch pines. 



The seed of the nut trees (walnut, butternut, the hickories, and 

 black and red oaks) should either be planted in the autumn or, what 

 is better, buried in a shallow, rodent-proof pit out of doors during the 

 winter, and then planted on the permanent site in the following spring. 

 Seed thus buried during winter is said to be "stratified." Silver maple 

 seed must be gathered during the spring in which it is planted. Seed 

 of the remaining species mentioned in the preceding paragraph should 

 be gathered during the fall or winter previous to planting and stored 

 away until spring. Pine seed is best stored in a sealed fruit jar or 

 other air-tight container, though it, and also cherry seed, may be 

 stored in cloth sacks hung out of the reach of rodents in a cool, well- 

 ventilated room. Stables, however, should not be used for storage 

 purposes. Ash seed is best stored with an equal volume of moist 

 sand in boxes kept in some cool place. 



Planting in furrows is rapid and is the least expensive of all meth- 

 ods for seedlings, transplants, or cuttings. It has proved successful 

 with both hardwoods and conifers, but there is danger that the trees 

 will not be set deeply enough in the ground. The method of covering 

 the roots — simply plowing a second furrow toward them — is very 

 likely to result in either covering the young trees or leaving the roots 

 exposed. Frequently the earth is not well firmed over the roots, 

 though this may be done after the plow has passed. The method can 

 be practiced, of course, only where the ground permits of plowing. 

 Because of its low cost it is recommended, if carefully done, for small 

 seedlings or transplants without a pronounced taproot system, on 

 good soil, and also for Cottonwood and willow when propagated by 

 cuttings. 



The slit method of planting has proved very successful, and is 

 fairly rapid and cheap. It may be recommended for small stock of 

 nearly all species unless the soil is very poor or uncommonly dry at 

 the time of planting, or unless the stock used is exceptionally high 

 priced or in poor condition. 



Digging a hole for each tree is necessary under such conditions as 

 those just cited. This is an expensive operation, however, and should 

 not be used where any other method would prove successful. In case 

 16 in Table 1 the stock used consisted of 3-year-old seedlings between 

 6 and 8 feet tall. As compared with the other cases the cost of plant- 

 ing was very high. The soil was almost a pure sand, which made 

 digging easy, but a hole 2 feet deep had to be dug for each tree. The 

 trees grew so poorly at first that after a couple of years the owner cut 

 them back to the ground. Sprouts have come up from the stumps, 

 but these are only a little larger than some 1-year-old seedlings set 

 out three years later on the same site. Large stock is only to be rec- 

 ommended where hogs are to run among the trees soon after planting. 



