analysis of variance. The volumes of soil strata after site 

 preparation are shown in table 3. The scalped treatment 

 has significantly more mineral soil, constituting 51.2 per- 

 cent and 62.4 percent of the total volume respectively, in 

 the rooting zone at the low and high elevation sites. No 

 mineral 2 strata were found in the mounded treatments. 

 This was mainly due to increased soil depth above this 

 layer as a result of bedding. In contrast, the scalped 

 treatment had significantly less organic and organic/ 

 mineral strata than the mounded or scarified treatments. 

 Site differences were reflected by greater percentages of 

 decayed wood and decayed wood-mixed soU strata at the 

 high elevation. This can also be seen in table 1, which 

 shows a higher soil organic matter content in the 

 mounded and scarified treatments. 



Concentrating organic matter and surface mineral soil 

 into beds increased the moisture content of the soil in 

 the rooting zone. This is most evident during the peak 

 growing months of July and August (table 4). Only 

 small differences in moisture content between treatments 

 were detected at the low-elevation site. Here, the scalped 

 treatment had less soil moisture during all the sample 

 dates except September, when the moisture content was 

 39.8 percent. At the high-elevation site, large soil mois- 

 ture differences occurred between treatments, particu- 

 larly the mounded and scalped treatments. These differ- 

 ences were most pronounced during July and August, as 

 shown in the following tabulation: 



Table 3.— Average volume of each soil stratum In the rooting 

 zone as affected by site treatment. (Different letters 

 indicate significant differences (P<0.05) across 

 treatments. The two mounded treatments were 

 combined because no significant differences 

 occurred between them.) 



Low elevation 



Strata type 



Mounded 



Scalped 



Scarified 



Organic 



17.9a 



Organic/mineral 



68.0a 



Mineral 



11.0b 



Mineral 2 





Decayed wood 



.3c 



Decayed wood/org. 



1.2c 



Decayed wood/min. 



1.7c 



Total 



100.0 



Percent 



14.3b 

 25.9b 

 51.2a 

 8.6c 



16.4a 

 70.3a 

 10.9b 

 .8c 

 .9c 

 1.0c 

 .6c 



100.0 

 High elevation 



100.0 



Mounded 



Scalped 



Scarified 



Organic 



Organic/mineral 

 Mineral 

 Mineral 2 

 Decayed wood 

 Decayed wood/org. 

 Decayed wood/min. 

 Total 



25.5b 

 52.3a 

 9.2c 



.8c 

 5.3c 

 6.9c 



Percent 



17.0b 

 17.3b 

 62.4a 

 .9c 



2.4c 



27.9b 

 37.6a 

 23.3b 

 .4c 

 1.5c 

 3.6c 

 5.8c 



100.0 



100.0 



100.0 



Table 4.— Moisture content for each treatment for each 



sample date in the rooting zone. (Different letters 

 indicate significant differences (P<0.05) across 

 treatments. The two mounded treatments were 

 combined as no significant differences occurred 

 between them.) 



Low elevation 



Sample 



Mounded 



Scalped 



Scarified 



June 

 July 

 August 

 September 



37.66b 

 46.73a 

 49.33a 

 37.75b 



— Percent — 



36.95b 

 39.22b 

 46.62a 

 39.76b 



High elevation 



39.59a 

 46.93a 

 48.85a 

 36.52b 



Mounded 



Scalped 



Scarified 



June 

 July 

 August 

 September 



37.54b 

 81.82a 

 71.31a 

 66.61a 



Percent 



39.76c 

 53.61a 

 45.08b 

 46.41b 



36.53b 

 86.39a 

 65.49b 

 76.49a 



Treatment 



Scalped 

 Mounded 



July 



August 



Percent 



53.6 

 81.8 



45.1 

 71.3 



These differences were most likely due to the increase 

 of organic matter volume in the mounds and scarified 

 treatment, which increased moisture holding capacity by 

 improving the soil structure and porosity. 



Bedding had little effect on soil temperature at either 

 site (fig. 3). The only significant difference, of low magni- 

 tude, was between scarified (17.4 °C) and scalped 

 (18.2 °C) treatments in August at the low-elevation site. 

 The temperatures at the high-elevation site averaged 3 

 to 4 °C lower than those at the low-elevation site from 

 June through August. In September, the soil at the high 

 site was near freezing, while at the low site soil tempera- 

 tures remained well above freezing. We expected lower 

 temperatures in the mounded treatments because mois- 

 ture content is positively related to organic matter con- 

 tent (Shultz and Wilhite 1974; Morris and Pritchett 

 1983), and inversely related to temperature. During the 

 summer of 1983, rainfall at the low site exceeded the 

 75-year average by 9.8 cm, and at the high site by 

 14.6 cm. This heavy rainfall throughout the growing sea- 

 son is believed to have negated any major effect of 

 mounding on temperature. 



CONCLUSIONS 



Mounding organic matter into planting beds proved to 

 have no detrimental effects and several favorable effects 

 on the physical properties of the soil. 



Organic matter levels were higher in the mounded 

 treatments than in the scalped treatments. High levels 

 of decomposing organic matter may increase the availa- 



4 



