62 BU1J.I.T1N 479, U. B. DEPARTMENT OF ACimCTLTURE. 



other reason, it is decidedly undesirable. If plans will permit it, 

 species should not be grown at a nursery where it is necessary to give 

 them shade during the transplant stage. Some trees, however, such 

 as spruce, true firs, redwood, and western red cedar, have, wherever 

 grown so far, appeared to need shade when first transplanted. Doug- 

 las fir transplanted when only 1 year old has shown a need for shade 

 at the Beaver Creek Nursery in Utah, at the Pocatello Nursery in 

 Idaho, and at the Gallinas Nursery in New Mexico. Engelmann 

 spruce transplants do better if shaded, both at the Monument and 

 Wind River Nurseries; and the same is true of western red cedar 

 at Wind River, 



Shading of transplants is expensive. It stimulates height growth, 

 which is normally undesirable in stock for field planting, and 

 the stock produced is not so well fitted for enduring the more 

 trying conditions to be met in the field as that grown in full sun- 

 light. A possible exception to this is to be found in the case of Doug- 

 las fir for planting under aspen in Utah and southern Idaho. Here 

 it is thought, but not proved, that stock shaded in the transplant beds 

 may be preferable for field planting. 



Cultivation, and weeding. — Cultivation serves the same purpose in 

 transplant beds as in seed beds; that is. it breaks up a crusted sur- 

 face soil, conserves soil moisture, and cuts down the amount of weed- 

 ing and watering necessary. At the old Garden City Nursery only 

 one-third as much watering was necessary with cultivation as with- 

 out it. Cultivation is best carried on as soon after watering as a 

 crust begins to form on the soil, and it is a particularly desirable 

 operation in heavy soils. On loose, sandy soils it is not so essential, 

 but is beneficial even there. It can be carried on rapidly with a 

 wheel cultivator, by the use of an ordinary potato hook whose center 

 tine is cut out. or by some other similar tool which straddles the 

 rows (PL XXII). 



Weeding should be done as often as is necessary, which is usually 

 from three to four times a season. Pulling by hand is the most 

 effective method, but some implements are good, such as narrow 

 hoes or tools with sharp V-shaped edges. At the Wind River 

 Nursery the chief weeds are brake fern and blackberry vines, which 

 can not be pulled very well without damaging the trees. They are 

 accordingly cut off below the ground. For this purpose a weed 

 cutter was originated from one of the straps of steel which reinforced 

 the shank of the handle of a worn-out shovel. This short, half- 

 tubular, curved piece of steel with a sharp V-shaped notch filed in 

 the end of it was riveted to the end of a broom handle. Experience 

 has shown that this tool is very well adapted to the work. 



Mulching during "-inter. — Transplants in general need no atten- 

 tion during the winter. Occasionally mulching is practiced when 



