126 
THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 
bo sot. Through this arrangement an 18 inch path is left 
in the center and a 12 inch path at each side. Each 16 
foot area is considered as a plot consisting of two beds. 
The trenches are opened up along the guide board which 
is held in place by the notched boards. The work of 
transplanting proceeds as follows: 
First a man with a trenching spade (see Figure 5), 
cuts a thin slot into the soil, along the edge of the guide 
board. He then picks up this board and moves it to an 
adjoining row in the plot to the right and repeats the slit¬ 
ting operation, lie continues this operation throughout 
a series of adjoining rows— the number depending upon 
the size of the transplant area or the number of notched 
boards previously placed. When this man has made a 
slit for a row and moved the guide board to the next plot 
he is followed by a man with a heavy Mast trencher (see 
Figure 4). This man completes the opening of trans¬ 
plant trench. 2 The board crew of two men, then sets two 
applies especially to such species as Douglas Fir and 
Englemann Spruce which have a shallow root system. 
If the trees are set too deep, false roots may sprout from 
root collar and bole disease may result. If set too shal¬ 
low sun scald of the exposed root collar may kill the 
transplants. If the lower soil is not firmly packed about 
the roots the air spaces left may cause the roots to dry out 
and if this condition continues for any length of time the 
trees are sure to suffer or even die. 
In order to accomplish correct transplanting a new 
type of transplant board was devised—See Figure 3. It 
differs from the “Yale’' board in that the trees are held 
in place by the root collar instead of by the top. The trees 
are thus effectively prevented from slipping from the ori¬ 
ginal position in which they are placed when the board is 
threaded. The planting board proper is placed on top of 
the trench and in such a position that the roots of the 
seedlings will lie flat against the wall. Correct depth of 
boards full of trees. Having finished, they move one to 
the next plot, following up I lie trencher men. The whole 
process is continued throughout a series of rows in ad- 
adjoining plots until the end is reached. It is then re¬ 
peated as often as there are rows to be set. The sequence 
of moves is indicated by the numerals shown in Figure 
2. It is obvious that by this method the trencher-men 
can always stay ahead and out of the way of the board 
men and no time is therefore lost through one part of the 
crew waiting for the others to finish their operations. 
In transplanting seedlings care must be taken to get 
them firmly set in the soil and at the correct depth. This 
- It has not proven feasible to open up trenches immediately 
with the large Mast trencher, although this is accomplished at 
some nurseries with good success. At the Gallinas nursery it 
was found that one man would require more time to make a 
good trench with this tool alone than two men using different 
types of tools, as described above. Possibly this might also be 
found to be the case elsewhere. The guide board does not have 
to be retained after the slits have been cut with the trencher 
spade. The heavy trencher sinks easily into the previously pre¬ 
pared slits and opens up a perfectly straight trench without 
further use of the guide board. 
setting is thus controlled. Figure 3 shows the construc¬ 
tion and method of using this board. The threading side 
and clamp strip are covered with felt. The notched 
gauge strip is removable so that the board can be readily 
adjusted to any interval of spacing desired. The clamp 
strip is automatically held in place by spring hinges on 
the handles. When the board is being threaded it is 
placed with the narrow edge of the back down in a 
groove on Ihe threading table so that the front (threading 
edge) will be even with the top of the table. In this way 
the trees are kept in place until the threader is ready to 
let down the clamp strip. 
Each new trench is opened up toward instead of away 
from a previously set row of trees. This causes the low¬ 
er part of the soil to become firmly packed against the 
roots and thus the desired results are effectively attained. 
2. Field Planting 
Like transplanting in the nursery, successful field 
planting is largely dependant upon correct setting of 
trees. Not only must they be set at the right depth but 
