16 ADVICE FOR FOREST PLANTERS IX OKLAHOMA. 



keep them from the air. In the nursery the trees should be shaded 

 from the direct fay- of the sun by brush, cloth, or lattice screens, and 

 they should not be taken up when the air is dry. If they are not 

 transplanted directly from the nursery they should be left heeled in 

 until the weather i- propitious. A cool, cloudy, damp day should be 

 -elected in which to plant. When heeling in. the foliage should 

 never be covered with -oil. and when planting out. the stems should 

 be set but a little deeper than they were in the nursery. 



Unless the planter proposes to use a large quantity of evergreen 

 trees it will be best to buy stock one or two years old from a nursery, 

 Mid cultivate it in bed- until it is large enough to set out. For ordi- 

 nary plantation- -mall tree- are preferable. Evergreens are partic- 

 ularly difficult to transplant after they are more than a foot high. If 

 they live, their growth i- usually so checked by the disturbance of 

 their root- that after a few year- they are out-tripped by similar 

 tree- considerably younger. In short, small trees cost less than large 

 one-, they are more easily transplanted, they are more apt to live, and 

 they usually reach maturity, or a full development, quite as soon as 

 those that are lamer at the time of planting. 



Chinese arborvitrc and a few species of pine and cedar are the only 

 evergreens suitable for planting in the greater part of tin- region. 



PLANTING PLAN SUITED TO THE LOWLANDS BELT. 



The following planting plan, although made for a farm situated 

 from ">'> to hi milf- east <>{' the ninety-sixth meridian and outside of 

 the territory covered by this study, is suitable for most of the Low- 

 land- Belt. The farm consists of the south half of section 27 and the 

 north half of section 34. Fig. 2 -how- that portion covered by 

 the planting plan. This part of the Indian Territory is undulat- 

 ing, and i- underlaid with -oft carboniferous sandstones and -hale-. 

 A few mile- east of thi- farm i- Pryor Creek, which ha- a broad, fer- 

 tile, alluvial valley, and but a few mile- farther east is the valley of 

 the Grand or Xeosho River. Beyond the Grand River the country 

 rises rapidly into the foothill- of the Ozark-, which are covered by 

 unbroken forest. 



Thi- farm is situated on a prairie. Some line groves of post oak'. 

 hickory, elm. and other species grow on the upland- in thi- vicinity, 

 and persimmon i- abundant on the more rocky ground. The creek 

 and river bottom-, where not in cultivation, produce fine specimens of 

 black walnut and pecan. The altitude i- between 700 and 800 feet 

 above sea level. The average annual rainfall exceeds 35 inches, 

 though it i- sometimes so distributed that droughts occur. These and 

 frequent high wind- are the chief unfavorable climatic influen* 



