124 MISC. PUBLICATION 434, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



BEDS 



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Figure 51 illustrates the technique followed in heeling in seedlings. 

 A trench about 3 feet wide is dug across the full width of the bed with 

 a back wall slope from the vertical of 30° to 45°. The depth of the 

 trench should be sufficient to accommodate the roots of the seedlings 

 without curling when the trees are laid on the sloping backwall with 

 the root collars 1 or 2 inches below the original ground level. 



Twenty bundles of seedlings are laid close together against the 

 back wall of the trench. Soil from the forward wall or bottom of the 



trench is then shoveled 

 against the seedlings 

 and firmly tamped, 

 building up a new 

 back wall about 8 

 inches in front of the 

 first and sloping at 

 approximately the 

 same angle. The men 

 should use their feet to 

 pack the soil around 

 the roots. An aline- 

 ment pole is placed 

 across the bed in line 

 with the new back 

 wall. A piece of 1%- 

 inch iron pipe will be 

 found very satisfac- 

 tory for this purpose. 

 The purpose of the 

 pole is to prevent the 

 individual bundles in 

 the second row from 

 being forced out of 

 line and to enable the 

 entire row of bundles 

 to be pushed forward 

 if necessary, during 

 the process of firming 

 the soil about the roots. 

 This procedure is re- 

 peated for each suc- 

 ceeding row of bundles. 

 The beds may then be crowned over with soil, leaving the top one- 

 third or one-half of the seedlings exposed (fig. 51, E). The crowning 

 over of the beds assures adequate covering of the seedlings, in addition 

 to providing drainage to carry off excessive moisture in the form of 

 rainfall. 



When insufficient soil-moisture content necessitates watering the 

 beds heavily following heeling-in, in order to settle the soil closely 

 about the seedlings, care must be taken to avoid overwatering, 

 especially if drainage conditions are not perfect. If no water is 

 applied, closer attention will need to be paid to tamping the soil about 

 the seedlings. To accomplish this best, the small space between the 

 rows of bundles should be thoroughly packed before the beds are 

 crowned over. 



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Figure 50. — Plan for a heel-in storage plot of six 

 150 by 10 foot beds, accomodating approximately 

 900,000 seedlings. 



