METHODS OF PLANTING MOST SUITED TO FLOKIDA. 37 



FIELD PLANTING. 



Preparation of the planting site. — The first and most essential 

 thing in establishing forest plantations of any kind is the protection 

 of young stock from fire and animals. Unless these can be kept out, 

 it is worse than useless to expend time and money in planting. 



It will usually be necessary to inclose the area by means of some 

 sort of fence, to post notices warning against trespass, and to plow 

 lines around the plantation. If the area is large, it should be sub- 

 divided into smaller areas or blocks by plowing or burning lines of 

 division. 



Experience has proved that it is of great advantage to the planta- 

 tion if the ground has been previously cultivated and some agricul- 

 tural crop has been raised on it. Under these conditions more rapid 

 and more uniform growth may be expected. Moreover, the use of the 

 land for an agricultural crop for the first two or three years, even 

 after the eucalypts are planted, brings some return, and thus decreases 

 the cost of the plantation, besides keeping the ground cultivated and 

 clear of weeds. In preparing the ground, machine cultivation is the 

 most economical wherever practicable, and the land should be plowed 

 and harrowed or disked. 



Where preliminary cultivation of the ground is impossible because 

 of roots or stumps, or inadvisable because of labor conditions, the pit 

 method of planting should be adopted. The holes should be about 

 20 inches square and deep enough to accommodate the longest roots. 

 They can be made with a spade or mattock. The top soil is used first 

 to cover up the roots. On stiff or previously uncultivated soils the 

 holes should be made some months before planting and be allowed to 

 lie fallow, but in loose, sandy soil they can be made at the time of 

 planting. 



Planting. — When the seedlings are from 10 to 20 inches high they 

 are ready for field planting. It is then that the advantage of using 

 pots is appreciated, for since the roots of the young plants are very 

 sensitive and will not stand handling or exposure to the air, they are 

 not disturbed in any way by this method, but are planted with the 

 paper pot still enveloping them. The moisture in the soil soon causes 

 the paper to decay and the roots have no difficulty in piercing 

 through it. 



If the plants are in flats, however, great care must be taken in 

 lifting them from the flats to the planting holes so as not to expose 

 or injure the root system. For lifting the seedlings from the flats to 

 the planting holes a small hand trowel should be used, and each plant 



