Dennis C. Gandy - Page 6

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          "seedhouse" and then transplant them into the desired containers,           
          usually 2-gallon or 5-gallon containers.  Those containers were             
          moved from the seedhouse to pads where they could be spaced,                
          pruned, and staked.  The 5-gallon container trees generally were            
          spaced two or three times per year as they grew.  The nursery               
          would water the container trees on the pads an average of about             
          twice per day.  The container trees in the field operation would            
          receive water and be fertilized four times a day.  At each stage,           
          some of the plants would be culled.  All aspects of this                    
          operation were done by hand.  The B&B trees that were planted in            
          the fields were also pruned and fertilized by hand.                         
               The nursery hired Mexican laborers to dig up B&B trees on a            
          piecework basis.  For a portion of the earliest years in issue,             
          petitioners used cash to pay the Mexican pieceworkers.  Beginning           
          in mid-1987, the workers were paid by check.  The nursery had a             
          pulling crew that moved the trees from the field to the loading             
          dock in order to fill an order.  The pulling crew placed by hand            
          a name tag and a price tag on each of the container trees.                  
               Generally, each year the nursery began shipping in late                
          December or early January and continued until June or July of the           
          following year.  The nursery owned its delivery trucks and                  
          employed the drivers.  The nursery had a loading crew to load the           
          trucks.  The nursery delivered the container trees to its chain             
          store customers using 45- to 48-foot semitrucks.  Approximately             
          1,500 5-gallon container trees or 3,000 2-gallon container trees            



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Last modified: May 25, 2011