8 Miscellaneous Circular 16, U. S. Dept. of Agriculture 



not be done, they should be stored in a cellar or some cool, moist place, 

 or heeled in as shown in Figure 7. The tops of evergreens in pack- 

 ages should not be wet ; if there is any danger of the roots becoming 

 dry, they should be moistened not soaked. This can be done by pour- 

 ing a small quantity of water oyer the stems at the top of the pack- 

 it to trickle down into the roots and moss. 



age, allowing 



METHOD OF PLANTING 



When ready to plant, the trees should be taken out of the package, 

 or from the ground where they have been heeled in, and placed in 

 a box or bucket which contains some of the moss in which the trees 

 were originally packed. The roots should be surrounded by wet 

 moss and the trees themselves covered with a piece of wet burlap. 

 When planting, the trees should be drawn from the bucket or box one 

 at a time and put into the ground with as little exposure as possible. 



Care in planting trees is as important as care in handling them. 



Fig. 7. — Heeling in. This should always be done if the trees can not be planted imme- 

 diately. Dig trench in moist earth deep enough to bury the roots and part of the 

 stems allowing the roots to hang down full length, covering each layer of roots as 

 placed. Do not double or curl them. Each layer of roots should not be more than 2 

 inches deep and the thickness of the soil over the roots should always exceed the 

 depth of the layer of the roots 



If they are not given careful attention when they are set in the 

 ground, they can not be expected to live. Correct and incorrect 

 methods of planting are shown in Figure 8. 



The best way to plant evergreens is to plow a furrow and place 

 the trees in slits made with a spade, as shown by Figures 9 and 10. 

 These furrows can be plowed in sod in the sand hill region where 

 there is danger of soil blowing; and the trees will require no culti- 

 vation, unless the planter desires to stimulate their growth. Suc- 

 cess in tree planting can not be expected if the trees are stuck in 

 sod and left to care for themselves, for the grass will crowd them 

 out. This grass competition is greatly reduced by plowing a furrow, 

 the method used in the planting operations on the Nebraska National 

 Forest. Trees planted in the heavier loam soils should always be 

 cultivated. 



Hardwoods, if small rooted, may be planted in furrows in the 

 same manner as conifers, or. if roots are large, by the deep-hole 



