FOREST NURSERY PRACTICE 153 



seeds may be sown by boring special holes in the disc that regulates 

 seed flow. Large seeds such as that of Coulter pine (pinns coulterii), 

 suger pine (pinns lambertiaua) and others are best sowed by hand and 

 this is often the case with very small seeds. 



Machine planting is usually lengthwise of the bed but may be used 

 crosswise. In using the seed drill, the work should be done by a careful 

 man who will not only cover ground rapidly but "Will also sow to even 

 depths and be certain of seed flow. Many men never become sufficiently 

 expert at this work to secure the best results. Machine sowing it to be 

 especially recommended because of cheapness, even sowing and the ease 

 with which the work may be done on windy days. In gravelly soils, 

 it may sometimes be advisable to sow the seed by machine and cover by 

 hand. In fine soils, where small seeds are used, there is sometimes a 

 tendency to sow the seed too deeply. As previously mentioned, where 

 root pruning is desired, the lengthwise rows are to be preferred. 



Row sowing by hand maq be performed in various ways. A common 

 method of making a trench is to nail triangular strips six inches apart 

 to an inch board which is as long as the beds are wide. These triangular 

 strips form Ihe trenches and the depth of the trench may be regulated by 

 the amount of pressure applied to the board or by having boards with 

 different sized strips. Markers are usually attached to the end of the 

 board to keep a uniform spacing. Most frequently the seeds are sown 

 directly from the hand but this usually causes unevenness with even the 

 most careful sowers. Often the seeds are sown from a bottle over which 

 one finger is placed to control the rapidity of seed flow. Occasionly a V 

 shaped trough is used which has a slit at the bottom. The seed are 

 scattered against the side of this trough at an angle to secure greater 

 evenness in sowing. Hand sowing is always difficult on windy days. 



Broadcasting has given some good results and may become a common 

 method for certain species. Experience in California with knobcone pine 

 (pinns atleuuat.i) has shown that damping off is less serious with broad- 

 casted beds than with rows beds. No explanation has been given for this 

 peculiarity, it lia'.- thought that it might be due to a more complete 

 isolation of each seedling in the broadcasted beds but in 1904 the densely 

 broadsacted beds of pinus atteunata did not damp off while sparse stands 

 of drill seedlings in an adjoining bed were affected. It is also possible 

 to secure much denser stands of seedlings by broadcasting than by any 

 other method and usually this is as cheap or cheaper than sowing by 

 hand drills. The cost varies from 10 to 60 cents per pound according to 

 the size of the seed and the skill of the sower. It is sometimes held that 

 broadcasting requires little or no skill but experience has shown, that in 

 order to get an even stand, the sower must have considerable experience 

 or must sow very slowly. There is occasionally a tendency to use less 

 care in preparing the seddbed for this method but this is usually due to 

 inexperienced workers. 



It is thought that in many cases that seed sowing has been too light. 

 With species having 80 to 90 per cent of strong, vital seed a good rough 



