In the fall of the first year the seedlings should be large enough to be dug and sold to general nurserymen. Sometimes the poorest plants are allowed to stand another year, but they are usually so scattering that they do not pay for the use of the land, and they should be transplanted the same as the larger stock, or the weakest ones may be thrown away. The stocks are dug with a plow or tree-digger and heeled-in closely, so that the leaves "sweat" and fall off. The plants are then stored in sand, moss or sawdust in a cellar. Before they are shipped the tops are cut off near the crown, usually with a hatchet on a block. The stocks are then graded into budding and grafting sizes. The general nurserymen buy these stocks in fall or early winter. Those which are root-grafted are worked during late winter, but those intended for budding, or which must be grown another season before they attain sufficient size for working, are "dressed" (See Chapter V) and heeled-in; in the spring they are set in nursery rows, from a foot to eighteen inches apart in the row. The nurseryman reckons the age of his tree from the time the seedling is transplanted, rather than from the time the seed was sown. Seedling raising is usually conducted by men who make it a business and who supply the general nurserymen of the country. It is largely practiced at the west, where the deep and strong soils produce a rapid growth. The yearling trees are graded by the western growers into about four lots: "Extras," or those at least one-fourth inch in diameter at the crown and having twelve inches of both top and root; these are used mostly as budding stocks the next season, "Commons," those between three-sixteenths and one-fourth inch at the crown and having eight inches of root; these are used for immediate root-grafting. "Second-class," those from two to three-sixteenths inch at the crown, and "third-class," or all those under two-sixteenths. The last two classes must be grown in the field for one or two seasons before they can be worked.