Seedling Plants from the Forest. 51 



and when tJie kinds we wish to preserve have grown so as to soon 

 shade the whole of the ground. 



189. The oak is found to thrive exceedingly well while young 

 when thus surrounded by pines. The wUlow and the cottonwood 

 are excellent nurses for other trees, such as the walnut and the ash. 

 In alternate rows of willows and walnuts, the latter were found at 

 four years' growth at Lincoln, Nebraska, to be from three to five 

 feet high and very thrifty, while in a full exposure to the sun they 

 were but eighteen inches high and very scrubby. 



The Planting of Young Trees from the Forest. 



190. In transplanting native seedlings from the woods, we should 

 select those that are somewhat separate from the rest, and best 

 exposed to the air and light. If taken from a dense shade into the 

 full light of day, the change may be too severe, even where the ut- 

 most care is taken to prevent exposure of the roots to the air — a pre- 

 caution in which we can not be too careful. 



191. The roots should be at once dipped in a puddle of rich soil, 

 and packed in a box, standing upright, but not too close, and only 

 one course in a box. They should not be too closely covered from 

 the air, and should be set with as little delay as possible in nursery 

 rows, or for permanence, the place being previously well prepared. 

 Wild conifers should be cultivated two or three years before final set- 

 ting. The process of taking them from their n^itive place is much 

 more likely to succeed when the air is humid, as in foggy and low- 

 ering weather, and is greatly jeopardized by a cold dry wind. 



192. The trees taken small, and with an abundance of fibrous 

 roots, are much more likely to succeed than those of a large size. 

 They will get a better start, and in a few years equal and surpass 

 those that were transplanted at a more advanced age. In most 

 kinds, it is necessary to shorten the branches so that they may bear 

 some proportion to the root. It is a good plan to cover the wounds 

 with coal-tar or paint, but quite often the buds start out and 

 branches form at some distance from the ends, which dry up and 

 finally break off". It is a very common thing to see maple and other 

 trees set from the woods with a dead stick coming out among the 

 lower branches, it being the top of the original tree. These should 

 be broken or cut off close to the trunk, so as to allow the wood on 

 the side to grow over them. If too large, and left too long, they 



