NURSERY PRACTICE ON THE NATIONAL FORESTS. 57 



METHODS. 



Transplanting methods in Forest Service nurseries are uniform to 

 the extent that a transplanting board is used at all of them. Such 

 boards have proved very efficient, rapid, and successful, even though 

 very trying weather conditions prevail at the time of transplanting. 

 The old method of using a dibble and transplanting each seedling 

 as a distinct operation has been almost entirely discarded. It is 

 accordingly only briefly described here. 



Dibble method. — The operator inserts the dibble in the soil of the 

 transplant bed and pries it back and forth or gives it a quarter 

 turn to form an opening large enough to receive a seedling. The 

 roots are then inserted in the hole and the dibble again thrust into 

 the ground near the plant and pushed toward it to close the opening 

 and pack the dirt around the roots. If the spacing in the transplant 

 beds is close enough, this second thrust of the dibble can be made at 

 the point where the next plant will be set and the operation of closing 

 up the preceding cleft will at the same time open one for the receipt 

 of the next plant. By the use of this system one man can trans- 

 plant from 1,100 to 1,500 seedlings per day. It has proved a very 

 inefficient method in that the size of the opening does not permit 

 the roots to assume a normal position when the plant is inserted. 

 Crooked, distorted roots and heavy losses in the transplant beds 

 result. 



Transplant board method. — Depth of trench : The trench should 

 be deep enough so that the roots will not be curled up or bent over at 

 their ends. Such a position is not conducive to the formation of good 

 root systems. Boots bent unnaturally in this manner, moreover, are 

 likely to break when the plants are dug or when planted in the field. 



Setting seedlings in the soil : When the " Michigan board " is 

 used the process of setting seedlings in the soil is quite simple. Lay- 

 ing the transplant board across the bed, a trench whose side next 

 the board is vertical is excavated along its edge, each man of the 

 2-man crew covering half the distance. The seedlings are threaded 

 into the holes, half by each man; the loose soil is then drawn in, a 

 portion at a time, and packed against the roots until the trench is 

 filled up level. To draw in and pack the soil against the roots a 

 piece of inch board 6 inches wide by about 8 inches long is efficient. 

 The transplant board is disengaged from the seedlings by a tilting 

 forward and backward sliding movement. 



The board is next placed with one of its edges flush with the row 

 of seedlings just transplanted, another trench is dug along its other 

 edge, and the operation repeated. A mark across one end of the 

 board is kept in line with a heavy twine stretched along the edge of 

 the bed, which is thus kept practically straight. 



