33 PRACTICAL FORESTRY. 



CHAPTBE IV. 

 TRANSPLANTING SEEDLINGS. 



The seedlings of forest trees raised under artificial 

 conditions should always he transplanted while young, 

 and generally at the close of the first season, or when one 

 year old. In some instances where only a feeble growth 

 has been made, or the kinds are of a dwarfish habit, the 

 plants may remain in the seed-bed two or more years 

 before removal, but as a rule, the first transplanting 

 should be made earlier. In cold climates, and in soils 

 where the frost is"likely to lift the plants, or otherwise 

 injure them, they should be taken up so soon as the first 

 frosts have killed the leaves, and heeled-in where they can 

 be protected from cold. 



In warm climates the transplanting may be direct 

 from the seed-bed to the nursery rows, or to the grounds 

 where the trees are to grow, but it is seldom advisable or 

 safe to set out small one-year-old seedlings in a forest 

 where cultivation is not practicable, the better method 

 being to set in nursery rows and give good cultivation 

 for a few years before planting them where they are to 

 remain permanently. When in nursery rows they are in a 

 convenient position for training into any desirable form, 

 and their roots will be materially increased in number 

 by the frequent stirring of the soil in which they &re 

 growing. 



Nursery-gi'own trees, and those that have been frequent- 

 ly transplanted while young, are re-transplanted with less 

 labor and more certainty of living, than those that have 

 not passed through these preparatory stages. I know of 

 no tree that is at all diflBcult to transplant, if it has had 

 proper culture while young. The hickories, tulips, and 

 magnolias are generally considered the most sensitive of 



