FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 9 1 



paratory to planting, the larger volunteer oaks, pitch pine and chestnut were spared, 

 with the result that many of the planted trees have been smothered. 



Many of the seedlings died, although they were planted on ground where the 

 conditions appear as favorable as in the places where they thrive best. An expla- 

 nation may be found in the following statement : Mr. Hechler, who had charge of 

 the planting for 1887, and of all the plantings made since, says that the seedlings 

 arrived well packed and in good condition, except in the year 1891, when more than 

 three-fourths were lost by bad packing in sawdust. The trees were heeled in as 

 soon as they arrived, although they were usually at least twelve days upon the road 

 from the nursery. Most of them came from the Waukegan Nursery in Illinois. 

 When ready to plant the bundles were heeled in at each end of the lines, which 

 were usually not m.ore than a few hundred feet long. Several men worked on the 

 same line. Each man would take a handful of seedlings from the bundles and 

 carry them in his hand. 



The detailed reports made at the time show that in some cases the weather 

 became very dry and hot before the planting was finished, from which I infer that 

 sometimes the rootlets got dry, a condition fatal to most of the species. In some 

 of the plantings " dibbles " were used. These were made from three-quarter inch 

 round iron, pointed at one end, with the other end bent at right angles, forming a 

 handle six inches long. The dibble was pushed into the ground, making a hole in 

 which a seedling was placed ; then the tool was pushed into the ground alongside 

 of the first hole so as to shove over the earth about the roots. The securing of a 

 close contact between the earth and small roots is one of the most important 

 desiderata in tree planting; but the round form and small size of these dibbles 

 made them illy adapted to the purpose, especially when haste was made. In one 

 case nearly six thousand trees were planted in one day. If the dibbles had been 

 shaped like those in common use abroad, which are conical in form, with a diameter 

 of several inches at the large end, and with one flat side, the loss of trees would 

 have been much less; and, if the seedlings had been carried in pails with moist mud 

 about the roots the number lost would have been still smaller. 



In 1889 one thousand Russian mulberries were set out in a rather wet place. 

 They made a good start ; but seventy-five per cent were killed during the first 

 winter, and the balance during the second winter. 



Planting of I35^. 



Two hundred Austrian pines were planted, of which eighty-five per cent grew. 

 In 1894 these had attained an average height of 16 feet 7 inches. Average height 



