THE ASHES : THEIR CHARACTERISTICS AND MANAGEMENT. 
47 
Wherever possible it is advisable to prepare the land by plowing. 
The cost of setting the seedlings on prepared ground will be much 
less — not over $2 to $3 per 1,000 — while the growth of the seedlings 
will be much increased and the number of failures much reduced. 
The total per acre cost of plantations of different spacings on prepared 
ground, allowing $2.50 per 1,000 for cost of setting, $4 per 1,000 for 
the plants, and $1 to $6 for cost of preparation and subsequent culti- 
vations, is shown in Table 21. 
Table 21. — Cost per acre of establishing ash plantations on prepared ground with subse- 
quent cultivations, seedlings to cost $4 per 1,000 and §2.50 per 1,000 for setting. 
Spacing. 
Number 
of trees. 
Cost per acre of preparation and cultivation. 
SI 
$2 
$3 
$4 
$5 
S6 
Total cost of plantation per acre in dollars. 
Feet. 
8 by 8 
7 by 7 
6 by 7 
6 by 6 
5 by 5 
681 
889 
1,038 
1,210 
1,743 
$5.42 
6.78 
7.75 
8.87 
12.31 
$6.42 
7.78 
8.75 
9.87 
13.31 
$7.42 
8.78 
9.75 
10.87 
14.31 
$8.42 
9.78 
10.75 
11.87 
14.31 
$9.42 
10.78 
11.75 
12.87 
15.31 
$10. 42 
11.78 
12.75 
13.87 
16.31 
The cost of preparation varies from $1 to $3, depending on the care 
with which it is done and the cost of labor and animals ; plowing of 
wide-spaced furrows without subsequent cultivation can be done for 
$1 an acre or less. 
Two cultivations a season for two seasons will cost 50 cents to $1 
per cultivation, or $2 to $4 for the two seasons. All cultivations 
should be given before the 1st of June, as ash does practically all its 
growing before the middle of June or the 1st of July. Where the 
stand is to be cultivated, wider spacing can be used (6 by 6 to 8 by 8) 
on sites where the dryness of the soil might require closer spacing if 
not cultivated, a saving in plants and cost of setting which would 
much more than pay for the costs of cultivation. On the heavy soils 
of the treeless and hardwood regions cultivation is almost a necessity 
to keep down grass and conserve moisture. 
PLANTING WITH FIELD CROPS. 
This is the best of all methods of establishing ash plantations on 
fields, as it will often be possible, by growing field crops the first two 
seasons, to pay for the cost of estabhshing the stand and having it 
cultivated four or five times in a season. Corn will be the usual crop 
to grow. The field, after being plowed (preferably the fall before), 
should be disked and marked off 4 by 4 in early spring, and ash 
seedlings planted in alternate rows spaced 8 feet apart in* the row, and 
corn planted 4 feet apart in rows with no ash and 8 feet apart in the 
