12 



BULLETIN 1264-, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



Of the various methods of planting, only two — the center-hole 

 and the side-hole — have been used in this region. The center- 

 hole method was most frequently used in the earlier planting work, 

 but was later replaced by the second method in which the soil is 

 firmed on one side of the tree. It is possible to use narrower holes in 

 the side-hole method; the roots are spread out rather than crowded 

 to the center; and the planting is done more quickly. Also, the side- 

 hole method has proved the best to use with relatively inexperienced 

 labor. (PI. IV.) 



The relative advantages of these and various other methods of 

 planting have not been exhaustively worked out, but there is a great 

 mass of general information which shows that trees properly planted 

 by either the center-hole or side-hole method have about equal 

 chances of survival. The cone method is too expensive for the results 

 secured. The slit method was made the subject of experimental 

 comparison with the center-hole method on a planting site (Rock 

 Creek, Targhee National Forest). The results to date, which indi- 

 cate a considerable inferiority of the slit method, are shown in 

 Table 6. 



Table 6. — Effect of method of planting upon survival and growth, Rock Creek 

 planting area, Targhee National Forest, Idaho. 



Species. 



Age 

 class. 



Per cent alive, 1921. 



Center- 

 hole 

 method. 



Slit 



method. 



Growth, 1921. 



Center- 

 hole 

 method. 



Slit 

 method. 



Lodgepole pine 

 Do 



Douglas fir 



Do 



2-1 

 3-0 

 2-1 



2-2 



Inches. 

 1.6 

 2.5 

 1.0 

 1.2 



Inches. 

 1.5 

 2.1 

 1.2 

 1.2 



In general, care and thoroughness are more important than method. 

 In 1916, six plantations were carefully made by forest officers upon 

 areas which had been planted by common labor a few days before. 

 In every case there was a higher survival on the plantations made 

 by the forest officers, the difference averaging 16 per cent and ranging 

 from 2 to 36 per cent. The advantage still persists when the extra 

 cost of the more careful work is considered. In only one case was 

 the cost per surviving tree lower with the cheaper but more careless 

 labor. Careful planting by either the center-hole or side-hole methods 

 gives all that can be desired. 



NUMBER OF PLANTS PER ACRE. 



Regular spacing of trees in planting in the intermountain region 

 is usually undesirable and in many cases impossible. Protection 

 from drought is of paramount importance on nearly all sites, and 

 accordingly planting close to the edges of down logs and stumps on 

 burns has proved much superior to planting in the open, while on 

 brush lands the trees should be placed neither in the spaces between 

 the clumps nor in the thick growth but on the northern peripheries 

 of the clumps. Only in the case of aspen stands having slight under- 

 growth can even spacing be resorled (o among the sites usually con- 

 sidered for planting. The trees should run about 1,000 to the acre, 

 equivalenl to a spacing of about 6 by 7 feet. On open brush lands, 



