EXPERIMB3NT STATION BU^^LETINS, 379 



CHRISTMAS TREE PLANTATIONS 



Special Bulletin No. 78. 



BY A. K. CHITTENDEN. 



In order to determine the practicability of growing Cliristmas trees 

 as a farm crop, the Department of Forestry of the Michigan Agricul- 

 tural College established an experimental Christmas tree plantation at 

 East Lansing in 1909. Sufficient time has now elapsed to warrant def- 

 inite conclusions being drawn from this plantation. 



The area devoted to the experiment was 0.28 of an acre. The soil 

 is a stiff yellow clay very full of medium sized stones from two to eight 

 inches in diameter. The land slopes to the east and a seepage of water 

 from a flat area above causes excessive moisture and a cold soil during 

 the spring months. During the summer the clay dries out and bakes 

 badly. Prior to planting the trees the best top soil had been removed 

 by several years of erosion. 



The land was prepared by fall plowing. In the following spring the 

 ground was harrowed, the gullies filled in, and the loose stones re- 

 moved. There were three harrowings in all. Lastly, a float was used to 

 level and prepare the ground for planting. 



A layer of coarse horse manure was plowed under with the fall plow- 

 ing. No other fertilizer was applied, nor has an}' been used since as top 

 dressing. 



Four year old Norway spruce transplants were used. These trees at 

 the time of planting were about 1.4 feet high, good, strong, sturdy stock. 

 They were planted with a triangular spacing of 3 feet, at the rate of 

 5,584 to the acre. The marking was done by a horse marker. 



The plantation was cultivated three times during the first season. 

 No hand work has been done since the planting. Two cultivations were 

 given the plantation during the summer of 1910. Since that time the 

 area has received no cultivation of any kind. The time required to cul- 

 tivate the area once over was about 2^2 hours for one man with single 

 horse. 



Thinnings were first made along the south and west sides where the 

 soil, being much deeper and of better tilth, enabled the trees to grow 

 more rapidly. The two outside rows along these sides were thinned to 

 about every other tree in 1913. The largest trees were taken out and 

 consequently the removal was not entirely uniform. In 1914 further 

 thinning was made generally over the area. Wherever a large tree ap- 

 peared to be crowding the ones around it, it was removed. About 350 

 trees were removed in 1913 and 100 in 1914. In 1915 three hundred 

 trees were taken out. All of these trees taken out in thinnings were 

 trees that could be disposed of to good advantage. 



The loss in the area from 1909 to 1913, when thinnings were begun, 

 was less than two per cent. 



