60 Nebraska State Horticultural Society. 



have two and one-half acres of seed beds under slatted roof, which 

 gives us a capacity of from three to four millions of seedlings. The 

 slatted roof over the beds gives us part shade, which is necessary the 

 first year. The Western Yellow Pine and the Red Fir are easily raise! 

 from seed, they are strong, thrifty seedlings and require very little 

 attention. The Jack Pine is a very tender little seedling and if one-ha'.f 

 of the plants that start out survive the first year they are extremely 

 fortunate. The first and great calamity to befall them is an attack of 

 "damping off." The best remedy that I have found to prevent serious 

 loss from this source is a good dressing of gravel over the surface of 

 the seed beds. Sow the seed on the surface of the bed and then with a 

 shovel scatter a thin layer of gravel over the seed, it should never be 

 over one-half inch in depth. The gravel permits the surface of the beds 

 to drain quickly, prevents the soil from spattering up over the plants 

 in times of rain, thus leaving the stems clean at all times and in the 

 very best possible condition. In some experimental beds in which we 

 sowed the same amount of seed on the same area of ground the differ- 

 ence in number of plants produced at the close of the season was more 

 than 5 to 1 in favor of the gravel cover. We are using gravel to some 

 extent of our Jack Pine seed beds this season with the same result 

 that the experiments gave last year. If the gravel could be easily gotten 

 we would use it on all our beds. We sprayed our seedlings and seed 

 beds with Bordeaux mixture this year to test its virtue as a fungicide 

 to prevent damping off, but we find it a very inefficient preventive in 

 such a rainy season as we have had. The seedlings under the gravel 

 cover without any spray have withstood the attack far better than 

 those in the ordinary beds under a liberal application of the spray. 



The seedlings grow in the seed beds through two seasons without 

 transplanting. They are then a fine size, about six inches in height, 

 for planting in the hills. The entire cost of growing the seedlings ta 

 this age is less than $1.00 per thousand. 



Another fungus which we have not yet definitely determined by 

 name, has attacked our seedlings in the beginning of their second 

 season's growth. It appears as a blight the tips of the leaves and 

 works downward until it finally destroys the terminal bud or perhaps 

 an inch or two of the stem. Spraying with Bordeaux mixture appears 

 to hold it in check and we anticipate no serious trouble from this source 

 in the future. 



In addition to growing trees for planting on the reserves within 

 this state, we have in the past season shipped 90,000 to the Black Hills 

 and Pike's Peak Forest Reserves for planting up denuded areas. It is 



