10 BULLETIN 153, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
ful with walnut, butternut, ash, silver maple, red and bur oaks, black 
cherry, and white, Scotch, red, and pitch pines. 
The seed of the nut trees (walnut, butternut, the hickories, and 
black and red oaks) should either be planted in the autumn of, what 
is better, buried in a shallow, rodent-proof pit out of doors during the 
winter, and then planted on the permanent site in the following spring. 
Seed thus buried during winter is said to be “‘stratified.”’ Silver maple 
seed must be gathered during the spring in which it is planted. Seed 
of the remaining species mentioned in the preceding paragraph should 
be gathered during the fall or winter previous to planting and stored 
away until spring. Pine seed is best stored in a sealed fruit jar or 
other air-tight container, though it, and also cherry seed, may be 
stored in cloth sacks hung out of the reach of rodents in a cool, well- 
ventilated room. Stables, however, should not be used for storage 
purposes. Ash seed is best stored with an equal volume of moist 
sand in boxes kept in some cool place. 
Planting in furrows is rapid and is the least expensive of all meth- 
ods for seedlings, transplants, or cuttings. It has proved successful 
with both hardwoods and conifers, but there is danger that the trees 
will not be set deeply enough in the ground. The method of covering 
the roots—simply plowing a second furrow toward them—is very 
likely to result in either covering the young trees or leaving the roots 
exposed. Frequently the earth is not well firmed over the roots, 
though this may be done after the plow has passed. The method can 
be practiced, of course, only where the ground permits of plowing. 
Because of its low cost it is recommended, if carefully done, for small 
seedlings or transplants without a pronounced taproot system, on 
good soil, and also for cottonwood and willow when propagated by 
cuttings. 
The slit method of planting has proved very successful, and is 
fairly rapid and cheap. It may be recommended for small stock of 
nearly all species unless the soil is very poor or uncommonly dry at 
the time of planting, or unless the stock used is exceptionally high 
priced or in poor condition. 
Digging a hole for each tree is necessary under such conditions as 
those just cited. This is an expensive operation, however, and should 
not be used where any other method would prove successful. In case 
16 in Table 1 the stock used consisted of 3-year-old seedlings between 
6 and 8 feet tall. As compared with the other cases the cost of plant- 
ing was very high. The soil was almost a pure sand, which made 
digging easy, but a hole 2 feet deep had to be dug for each tree. The 
trees grew so poorly at first that after a couple of years the owner cut 
them back to the ground. Sprouts have come up from the stumps, 
but these are only a little larger than some 1-year-old seedlings set 
out three years later on the same site. Large stock is only to be rec- 
ommended where hogs are to run among the trees soon after planting. 
