The usual idea that it costs a great deal to plant several thousand young trees is erroneous.  An ordinary woodlot may be stocked with a well-selected number of young trees at a cost less than the price generally paid for a dozen good specimen trees for the front lawn.  It is not necessary to underplant the woodlot with big trees.  The existing big trees are there to give character to the forest and the new planting should be done principally as a future investment and as a means of perpetuating the life of the woodlot.  Young trees are even more desirable for such planting than the older and more expensive ones.  The young trees will adapt themselves to the local soil and climatic conditions more easily than the older ones.  Their demand for food and moisture is more easily satisfied, and because of their small cost, one can even afford to lose a large percentage of them after planting.

    The young plants should be two-year-old seedlings or three-year-old
    “transplants.”

    Two-year-old seedlings are trees that have been grown from the seed
    in seed beds until they reach that age.  They run from two to fifteen
    inches in height, depending upon the species.

Three-year-old “transplants” have been grown from the seed in seed beds and at the end of the first or second year have been taken up and transplanted into rows, where they grow a year or two longer.  They are usually a little taller than the two-year-old seedlings, are much stockier and have a better root system.  For this reason, three-year-old transplants are a little more desirable as stock for planting.  They will withstand drought better than seedlings.

The best results from woodland planting are obtained with native-grown material.  Such stock is stronger, hardier and better acclimated.  Foreign-grown stock is usually a little cheaper, owing to the fact that it has been grown abroad, under cheap labor conditions.

The trees may be purchased from reputable dealers, of whom there are many in this country.  These dealers specialize in growing young trees and selling them at the low cost of three to ten dollars per thousand.  In States in which a Forestry Commission has been inaugurated, there have also been established State nurseries where millions of little trees are grown for reforestation purposes.  In order to encourage private tree planting, the Forestry Commissions are usually willing to sell some of these trees at cost price, under certain conditions, to private land owners.  Inquiries should be made to the State Forestry Commission.

Great care must be taken to select the species most suitable for the particular soil, climatic and light conditions of the woodlot.  The trees which are native to the locality and are found growing thriftily on the woodlot, are the ones that have proven their adaptability to the local conditions and should therefore be the principal