46 , SEVENTH REPORT OF THE 



oak, elderberry, poplar and blackberry bushes, mostly dead and bent over by wind 

 and snow. In places there is no soil over the rock; in others the only covering is 

 moss or forest duff, with roots and decayed leaves ; while in spots the rich soil is 

 several inches deep and underlaid by a few inches of sandy loam which appears to 

 be rock decomposed " in situ." Using a pickaxe and grubhoe we thoroughly 

 stirred up the earth, and then packed it around each seedling. In fact it was 

 necessary in many cases to scrape up with the fingers all the soil within reach, in 

 order to make a fitting bed for the little trees. 



The plan was to space the trees six feet apart, as nearly as possible ; but the 

 difficulty in finding soil made this vary, so that 900 of the seedlings are spread over 

 about two acres. One hundred of the spruces were placed on the flat top of the 

 plateau about 1,000 feet farther south, on the west side of the old bark road, which 

 is used as a trail up tlie W'ittenburg, where the soil and second growth conditions 

 are about the same, except that in spots it is inclined to be wet. Here were several 

 spruce trees growing naturally four or five feet high, and looking thrifty. 



The planting was done on May i, 2 and 3, 1901. It required one whole day and 

 part of two other days for both of us, with the aid of one man, to set out the 1,000 

 seedlings; equivalent to two full days for three of us. We put more work upon 

 them than would usually be required, and it seems reasonable to estimate that under 

 average conditions two men can set out 1,000 trees a day. As indicating in a small 

 way perhaps the future possibilities of our little plantation we will say that we have 

 noted in the Catskills a white pine 22 inches in diameter, "]"] years old ; another 20 

 inches, 75 years- old ; another 28 inches, 290 years old ; and for spruce, one i inch, 

 25 years old; one 15 inches, 100 years old; one 17 inches, 100 years old; one 22 

 inches, 125 years old ; one 24 inches, 155 years old. 



Plantation No 3.* 



Last fall 5,000 trees were placed upon the eastern top and slope of Timothy- 

 berg mountain, in the town of Shandaken, Ulster County. It is the usual practice 

 to plant conifers in the spring in preference to the fall, and this is encouraged 

 by experienced nurserymen. It seems to us that this selection comes from expe- 

 rience of the difficulties in shipping trees from the nurseries in warm weather 

 and £rettin<T them into the ground before the roots have been dried out or the 



* In making this plantation and the report of the same I was efficiently assisted by Mr. A. Kneclitel, 

 F. E., a graduate of New York State College of Forestry. Thirty residents of the vicinity helped iis to 

 set out the plants. 



