358 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 





A Big German Transplant Nursery. 



down over the space the weeds and 

 brush and give it a Hght cultivation 

 about the depth of a spade. Having 

 carefully picked out stones and roots 

 and knocked the rich earth from roots 

 of weeds and grass, we then level off 

 the spot as much as possible and collect 

 in piles all the brush, weeds and roots, 

 and burn them, here and there, over 

 the plot. The ashes of these are scat- 

 tered broadcast and raked into the soil. 

 Finally we surround the plot with a 

 trench two feet deep to keep out small 

 rodents, mice, etc. At the return of 

 spring, when the last frosts are no 

 longer to be feared, we give the plot a 

 light culture with the rake and then 

 proceed with the layout of the beds and 

 walks. 



"We lay out the plant beds in long, 

 narrow five- foot ribbons, running east 

 and west across the pepiniere. The 

 seedings grooves are next creased in 

 the soft earth by means of Bavarian 

 planks, which are laid across the bed 

 alternately, and one has only to walk on 

 them to obtain two double grooves 7 



centimeters (2i/^ in.) wide spaced 19 

 centimeters (about 8 in.). For large 

 pepinieres we use a harrow of which 

 the teeth are the proper width to cut 

 suitable seeding grooves and run it 

 lengthwise of the beds. 



"As to quantity of seeds required, we 

 find that for spruce half a pound of 

 good seed suffices for 19 square meters 

 of pepiniere. For Sylvester pine we use 

 practically the same amount of seed as 

 we find that to avoid the roussi, a fun- 

 gus disease that attacks the young pines 

 in their second year, it is necessary to 

 mix the spruce and Sylvester pines in 

 the proportion seven-eighths spruce to 

 one-eighth pine. We do not advise the 

 culture of fir in temporary pepinieres at 

 all, as to give the young plants the thick 

 mat of roots they should have it is nec- 

 essary to clip the pivot root and trans- 

 plant, and this should only be done in 

 large permanent pepinieres." 



This, in brief, gives an outline of a 

 tried method of raising seedlings that 

 will make good forest growth without 

 the usual transplanting. The seeds are 



