364 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



reach a tree six feet high in five years 

 and are in better shape to set out than 

 if put in the forest on their third spring. 

 If at that time, instead of taking to 

 the forest you make a second trans- 

 planting to the saphng bed, you will 

 add to the vigor of the succeeding root 

 growth and push the young tree along 

 faster than if you had set it out. Speci- 

 mens for particular localities where they 

 are wanted for their scenic value as 

 soon as possible had best be forced here 

 in the sapling bed, being set out on 

 eigfhteen-inch centers with the usual 

 dead leaf couch in between rows. At 

 their fifth spring they are ready for 

 use and far ahead of the three-year 

 tree already out in the forest two years. 

 As a lot of the root system will neces- 

 sarily be lost in digging them up, they 

 should be pruned somewhat in the 

 crown so that the tree can occupy itself 

 exclusively with root growth during its 

 first year in the forest. And this must 

 not be done severely as with fruit trees ; 

 neither oak, ash, maple or beech can be 

 pruned to a whip, as is done with a 

 young peach, and to cut it ofT short as 

 is done with a one-year apple would 

 be simply killing the tree with excess 

 of sap, for the bark of an oak is so 

 tough that it by no means can push 

 forth new branch buds with the ease 

 of the fruit trees, while a beech must 

 have shade on its trunk when young or 

 the bark will be scalded. The only 

 pruning required while in the sapling 

 nursery will be a clipping of the outer 

 twigs to a pyramidal head and the re- 

 moval of the second branch in case the 

 tree seems inclined to fork. In all 

 planting of broadleaved species provide 

 for a good many more than you propose 

 to set out, so that you will have a chance 

 to reject all crooked seedlings and re- 

 turn all the spindly ones to the nursery. 

 Having decided upon an area that will 

 raise all the conifers, broadleaves and 

 saplings you require on the above 

 spacings, see that it has access to run- 

 ning water for irrigation or sprinkling 

 in time of drought, make its boundaries 

 rectangular for economy in bed space, 

 trench around it to keep out rodents 

 and put a two- foot chicken wire fence 

 along the inside edge of the trench to 

 keep out rabbits which would otherwise 



kill off all your young broadleaves by 

 nibbling the tender young buds. You 

 will then have a practical working nur- 

 sery that well repays its cost in saving 

 seedling and sapling expense. 



The subject of underplanting the for- 

 est, of planting abandoned pastures in 

 conifers and of planting both conifers 

 and broadleaves at advantageous points 

 in the forest has been pretty well gone 

 into in previous articles in this series. I 

 show an example herewith of reclama- 

 tion work in Merdare, French Alps, 

 which applies to reforestation work on 

 our own hillsides where the slope is 

 very steep. In the case shown the 

 slopes had been entirely denuded and 

 not even heather could get a foothold ; 

 the brook in the ravine had gone dry, 

 and scouring of the mineral sub-base 

 had begun. The first thing to do was 

 to arrest this scouring, and this was 

 done by digging shallow trenches, par- 

 allel, six feet apart, with the mound of 

 earth excavated always piled in a low, 

 rampart on the downhill face of the 

 ledge. This formed a pocket, in which 

 the rows of young transplants were 

 planted forthwith. The scouring action 

 of the rains immediately began to fill 

 in the hollows behind the ramparts and 

 reduce the slope to a sharp angle again, 

 but long before this could be accom- 

 plished the young trees had taken firm 

 root in the soil of the ramparts and 

 ledges and had made considerable 

 growth. They at once stopped the 

 scouring and soon formed a forest mold 

 of their leaf-fall, and in a few years 

 that hillside was covered with a dense 

 forest and the springs began to flow 

 once more. France spent over 260 mil- 

 lion dollars in reclaiming such denuded 

 slopes in the French Alps and the 

 Pyrenees, and brought over 10,000 tor- 

 rential streams under control in this 

 way. The forests were cut down and 

 sold by the extravagant and ignorant 

 Directory of 17D0; for fifty years the 

 country endured the droughts and floods 

 occasioned by this denudation of the 

 mountain slopes, and finally decided to 

 restore the forests at any cost. The 

 resulting increase in land values alone 

 has more than paid the Republic for 

 its expenditures. 



