NURSERY PRACTICE ON THE NATIONAL FORESTS. 65 
crew, and the culls should accordingly be discarded before shipping. 
Where close grading is not considered necessary, as in the Pacific 
Northwest, strict counting of the stock as it is dug may not be essen- 
tial. At the Wind River Nursery the practice is followed of esti- 
mating closely the stock in each transplant bed and supplying definite 
amounts for shipment from these estimates. This practice has been 
largely responsible for reducing the cost of distribution from $1.31 
to $0,855 per thousand. 
PACKING. 
The general practice in Forest Service nurseries is to tie the trees 
in small bunches. In this shape they are easier to handle both at 
the nursery and at the planting site, and it has been thought that 
they withstand better the rough treatment incident to shipping and 
to packing on horses. That this bunching is unnecessary is shown 
by experience at the Monument Nursery. Here packing is conducted 
in the usual manner, except that the trees are spread out in thin suc- 
cessive layers. Moss can better come in contact with all roots than 
where the trees are bunched, and trees packed thus have withstood 
shipment for long distances and arrived in good condition. 
The main points to be given consideration in packing for shipment 
are to minimize the possibility of the roots drying out and the tops 
heating while en route. To avoid this, the plants are shipped in open 
crate-like boxes which provide ample ventilation for the tops; and 
damp moss, preferably sphagnum because it holds moisture best, is 
packed around the roots. At the Savenac Nursery, the sawdust from 
a shingle mill has been found very satisfactory for packing. Trees 
are usually placed in the crates in tiers, the tops of one tier toward 
one end of the box and the tops of the next tier toward the opposite 
end, the roots of the successive layers overlapping. A strip of moist 
burlap as wide as the space covered by the roots of the plants should 
be spread in the bottom and extend up along the center of both sides 
of the crate. On this a layer of damp, well-drained moss is placed 
and then the first tier of transplants. Another layer of moss is now 
placed over these roots and chinked in between them, but none is 
placed upon the foliage of the trees. Then another tier of trees is 
placed on the moss, and the process continued until the crate is filled. 
Care must be taken not to pack the crowns too tightly or to get them 
wet, as either may induce heating. If the roots are packed as firmly 
as they should be, the tops may be too tightly together. To overcome 
this difficulty it is sometimes desirable to place moist strips of bur- 
lap among the roots next to the moss. This will enlarge the space 
that they would naturally occupy and serve to keep the crowns 
63186°— Bull. 479—17 5 
