20 BULLETIN 149 7, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
Table 3. — Age class of nursery stock for planting under light and heavy coin*- 
petition of sod, brush, or tree 
Species 
Under 
light 
compe- 
tition i 
Norway pine. 
Under 
heavy 
compe- 
tition 
Northern white pine j 3-0 2-1 
White spruce 2-1 2-2 
Jack pine 1-0 
Norway spruce 2-1 2-2 
White ash 1-0 
2-0 2-1 I 2-1 2-2 
2-1 2-2 
2-2 2-1 
1-0 1-1 
2-2 2-1 
1-0 
Species 
Red oak 
Tamarack or European larch.. 
Eastern cottonwood (rooted 
cuttings) 
Basswood 
Sugar maple 
Under 
light 
compe- 
tition i 
1-0 
2-0 
1-0 
1-0 
2-0 
Under 
heavy 
compe- 
tition 
1-0 2-0 
2-0 
1-0 
1-0 
2-0 
i Classes in this column are also suitable for sites with little or no competition. 
The 1, 2, 3, or 4 }^ear old nursery stock generally used and recom- 
mended for forest, planting is small and does not make a showing 
for several years after it is planted. One-year jack pine seedlings 
are 3 to 5 inches high. Two-year seedlings of northern white and 
Norway pine are usually 2 to 5 inches high and have roots 6 to 12 
inches long. The 3-year and 4-year transplants may be 4 to 7 inches 
high with root systems which are more bushy but not much longer 
than those of the seedlings. 
Although forest -planting stock of any species is small, trees of 
these sizes have been found to be most satisfactory for several rea- 
sons: (1) They adapt themselves to the new conditions of the plant- 
ing site more easily and are more likely to succeed than larger stock ; 
(2) they are cheaper to raise or to buy; and (3) they can be planted 
more quickly and more cheaply and with good success by unskilled 
labor. Finally, they may be expected to return a larger profit on 
the investment when mature than can be predicted for the larger 
transplant stock, of which the slightly better growth and survival 
do not compensate for the increased costs carried at interest over a 
long period. 
These economic considerations are usually of first importance, and 
they must always be weighed with comparative growth and survival 
in selecting a particular size and age of nursery stock among the 
two or three which may be expected to live and grow satisfactorily 
under any given conditions. The condensed recommendations just 
made and those in Table 3 are based upon a combination of eco- 
nomic with other considerations. Costs of stock and of planting are 
taken up in detail in a later section of the bulletin. The following 
paragraphs and Figure 2 refer only to the results in growth and 
survival. 
The plantations of Norway and northern white pine in which 2-2 
stock was used have been most successful. (Fig. 2). Three^ear 
transplants (2-1) of the white pine were only a little less successful 
than the 4-year (2-2), and those of Norway pine were no better than 
the 2-year or 3-year seedlings. The 3-0 white pine does not make a 
favorable showing in Figure 2, and the recommendation for its use is 
based partly on its low cost as compared with transplant s,tock and 
partly on the reported success which has been attained with it in 
younger plantations than those studied. 
More detailed study of these general differences in the classes of 
planting stock, indicate that they are not large, that they have fre- 
