COTTONWOOD IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 55 
seedlings may be bundled together in bunches of fifty or a hundred 
and the roots covered with,wet burlap or wet sphagnum moss. The 
tap-roots of vigorous seedlings may often be too long to handle 
easily. In such cases they should be cut with a sharp knife 12 inches 
or less below the root collar, If they can not be planted for several 
days they should be “heeled in” in a trench deep enough to bury — 
the roots and part of the stems. The trench should run east and 
west, with its south bank somewhat sloping. The bundles of trees 
should then e placed side by side in the trench on its sloping side, 
their tops toward the south, and their roots and stems covered 2 or 3 
inches deep with fresh earth dug from the opposite side of the trench. 
A second layer of trees should then be put in and covered as before, 
and the process repeated until all the trees have been heeled in. 
CUTTINGS. 
Cuttings are used in establishing most cottonwood plantations. 
The quality of cuttings depends very largely on the character of the 
parent stock, since a cutting will display essentially the same growth 
characteristics. Cuttings for. planting in the central or southern part 
of the valley should be obtained from that region rather than from 
the far north. Cuttings from trees in regions of low rainfall, such as 
the valley bottoms of Nebraska or Kansas, would not be as suitable 
for planting in the Ohio Valley region as stock obtained from the 
central Mississippi Valley. Again, if planting is to be done on good 
bottomland soils, the cuttings should not come from ornamental 
trees growing on comparatively upland situations. Particularly 
where cutting stock is purchased from commercial nurseries, the 
planter should make sure that the parent trees are of the right kind. 
The best cuttings are obtained from vigorous growing trees, pref- 
erably from the penne near the top. It may sometimes be possible 
to obtain cuttings of good quality from trees which are removed in 
a thinning, peered: of course, only the more thrifty intermediate 
trees are used for the purpose. Cuttings taken from the current 
year’s growth are superior to those from older parts of the branch. 
Two-year-old wood, however, will usually be found entirely satisfac- 
tory, but wood pier than this should not be used. Root cuttings are 
vigorous, but are difficult to obtain. 
A convenient length for cuttings | is about 18 inches, although under 
certain conditions the length may range from 10 to 36 “HL They 
should be made immediately after the tree is felled, in order to pre- 
vent the drying out of the twigs. In making cen it is preferable 
to cut the twig off at a slant of about 45° with a thin-bladed, sharp 
Anife. ‘In this way one avoids crushing the stem or loosening the 
bark, Lo are poule be exercised that none of the buds from which 
