COLLECTING EVERGREENS XN THE ROCKIES. 65 



plain which Is edged> with drifts of snow and here we begin 

 our work. "Now, boys, be very careful. Don't pull them. Dig 

 every one carefully with the spade. Be sure and get all the 

 roots. As fast as you dig, cover with earth. When you have 

 an armful bring them' to me and I will keep them under this 

 wet burlap." 



The work begins In earnest. Reader, did you ever have a 

 taste of mountain air? Where the rich ozone goes tingling 

 through your nerves and then comes to you the Joy of living. 

 You can almost feel wings growing. The blues and the "tired 

 feelings" and the despondency all fly away and you are left 

 in a delightful ecstasy. Oh, this Is glorious! The white snow, 

 these grand trees! Yonder, clear sky and those fleecy clouds 

 which Mother Nature has washed so clean and has now hung 

 them up on Invisible clothes lines to dry. 



Most of the Conifers we gather are the Douglas Spruce. 

 It is my part to sort and tie them in bunches of twenty-five 

 and it keeps me busy. The air Is moist, so Is the burlap we 

 use. When we get ten bundles they are laid by the snow bank 

 and the roots are covered with snow. We have a lively time 

 until noon. I build a fire and prepare coffee and then we have 

 our lunch and a brief chat about our work. Our nooning is short, 

 for we want to get to camp in good season. We start about 

 five o'clock. Our trees are packed in a great bundle, roots to 

 roots and the tops outside. They are wrapped In burlap, the 

 roots being layered in snow. We reach camp, find a nice clean 

 spot of earth; a puddle of mud is made, the trees are dipped; 

 they are then heeled in solid. Our first day's work Is twelve 

 thousand — a very good beginning. Then we get our supper 

 and are tired enough to sleep. Some of these trees are mud- 

 ded again, packed In moss and shipped to the different experi- 

 ment stations. But we must build a screen and plant forty 

 thousand ourselves. My partner says: "We never can do this." 

 "How long will it take," I ask. "Why, a man can only plant 

 two thousand a day." "Pull out your watch; there are one 

 thousand and I will plant them and do It In an hour." 



When you plant under a screen you put them close to- 

 gether. It takes two years for them to be well rooted. We do 

 not expect they will grow much and so we mark our rows six- 

 teen inches apart, spading down straight on one side. Now set 

 your trees upright with one hand and with the other put the 

 earth against them. They need be only two Inches apart and 

 the rows sixteen Inches. When set you stamp them solid so 

 that the earth is packed firmly around each tree and the loss 

 is very small indeed. The thousand were easily planted In forty- 

 five minutes. My man soon "caught on" and it did not take 

 long to put the forty thousand away in good shape. 



