NUKSERY PRACTICE ON THE NATIONAL J'OKKSTS. G5 



crew, and the culls should accordingly be discarded before shipping. 

 Where close grading is not considered necessary, as in the Pacific 

 Northwest, strict counting of the stock as it is dug may not be essen- 

 tial. At the Wind River Nursery the practice is followed of esti- 

 mating closely the stock in each transplant bed and supplying definite 

 amounts for shipment from these estimates. This practice has been 

 largely responsible for reducing the cost of distribution from $1.81 

 to $0,855 per thousand. 



PACKING. 



The general practice in Forest Service nurseries is to tie the trees 

 in small bunches. In this shape they are easier to handle both at 

 the nursery and at the planting site, and it has been thought that 

 they withstand better the rough treatment incident to shipping and 

 to packing on horses. That this bunching is unnecessary is shown 

 by experience at the Monument Nursery. Here packing is conducted 

 in the -usual manner, except that the trees are spread out in thin suc- 

 cessive layers. Moss can better come in contact with all roots than 

 where the trees are bunched, and trees packed thus have withstood 

 shipment for long distances and arrived in good condition. 



The main points to be given consideration in packing for shipment 

 are to minimize the possibility of the roots drying out and the tops 

 heating while en route. To avoid this, the plants are shipped in open 

 crate-like boxes which provide ample ventilation for the tops; and 

 damp moss, preferably sphagnum because it holds moisture best, is 

 packed around the roots. At the Savenac Nursery, the sawdust from 

 a shingle mill has been found very satisfactory for packing. Trees 

 are usually placed in the crates in tiers, the tops of one tier toward 

 one end of the box and the tops of the next tier toward the opposite 

 end, the roots of the successive layers overlapping. A strip of moist 

 burlap as wide as the space covered by the roots of the plants should 

 be spread in the bottom and extend up along the center of both sides 

 of the crate. On this a layer of damp, well-drained moss is placed 

 and then the first tier of transplants. Another layer of moss is now 

 placed over these roots and chinked in between them, but none is 

 placed upon the foliage of the trees. Then another tier of trees is 

 placed on the moss, and the process continued until the crate is filled. 

 Care must be taken not to pack the crowns too tightly or to get them 

 Avet, as either may induce heating. If the roots are packed as firmly 

 as they should be, the tops may be too tightly together. To overcome 

 this difficulty it is sometimes desirable to place moist strips of bur- 

 lap among the roots next to the moss. This will enlarge the space 

 that they would naturally occupy and serve to keep the crowns 

 63186°— Bull. 479—17 5 



