NURSERY PRACTICE ON THE NATIONAL FORESTS. 59 



used for the operation; and one man may be sufficient for planting. 

 At the Savenac Nursery, where the trenches are prepared with a plow, 

 two men, one a threader and the other a planter, comprise the crew. 

 This is a matter to be determined during the course of the work. 



Pot method. — Where field planting is of doubtful success because 

 of extremely trying weather conditions, as in southern California, 

 or where summer planting appears desirable, as in Arizona and New 

 Mexico, the method of growing plants first in seedling flats and then 

 transplanting them to paper pots has been tried. Both plants and 

 pots are later set out in the field. The method of transplanting is 

 simple. Paper pots 2 inches square by 8 or 10 inches deep are the 

 preferable size if the plants are to be left in them for 1 year only. 

 If they are to be left for 2 years a pot 3 inches square by 8 or 10 

 inches should be used. The transplanting is carried on under shade. 

 Seedlings are removed one at a time from the flats and planted in the 

 pots in the same manner that gardeners employ with vegetable or 

 house plants. A hole is made with a dibble, the roots inserted, and 

 the soil firmed around them. Watering follows the operation of 

 transplanting. 



This method of transplanting can be justified onty where it is cer- 

 tain that only through it can stock be made to succeed under adverse 

 field conditions, and further, that it is necessary to plant where such 

 field conditions exist. Such transplanting is slow, one man being 

 able to prepare soil and transplant only from 600 to 750 plants per 

 day. The pots cost about $3 per thousand. Crates to hold the pots 

 have been built for about 40 cents each. Until experience absolutely 

 proves the superiority of such plants, this method of transplanting 

 should not be practiced extensively. It has been given a trial 

 both in California and Arizona nurseries. At the latter it has been 

 abandoned because better results in planting have not been secured 

 with the stock. At the former, indications are that such stock may 

 prove the most successful. 



FACTORS AFFECTING COST. 



A number of factors influence the cost of transplanting. Size 

 of stock is one of these. The use of very small stock may materially 

 increase the cost of the operation. Thus, at the Boulder Nursery in 

 1911 the cost of transplanting medium-sized stock, the preferable 

 size, was $1.10 per thousand; small stock, $1.35; and large stock, 

 $1.65. Large stock often necessitates wider spacing, which means 

 the digging and filling of more trenches to accommodate the same 

 number of seedlings, and small stock can not be handled rapidly. 

 At the Fort Bayard Nursery the cost of transplanting western 

 yellow pine with a spacing of 3 inches in the rows was in one case 



