FOREST COMMISSIONER S REPORT. IO9 



planting stock. This stock was purchased at a flat rate of 

 $5.25 per 1,000, and was billed directly to the purchasers at 

 exactly the same figure. The large quantity ordered at one 

 time, and the guarantee of payment making it possible to get a 

 price that could not have been obtained on small lots by individ- 

 ual purchasers, and it saved unnecessary delays and uncertain- 

 ties that might have had a discouraging effect on those intend- 

 ing to establish plantations. The stock was of excellent quality 

 and gave universal satisfaction to the customers. 



At the present time there are more than 300,000 seedlings in 

 the nursery from this year's planting (1916), counting both pine 

 and spruce, so that it will not be difficult to maintain an average 

 annual production of from 200,000 to 250,000 three-year-old 

 transplants for 1918 and thereafter. 



In all some 175-000 trees were planted in over 40 different 

 localities throughout the State, through the agency of the Forest 

 Nursery in the spring of 1916. This means an area of nearly 

 150 acres reforested and now in productive condition, re- 

 claimed from the waste lands of the State. 



Figures gathered from the planters show that the average 

 cost of planting, including stock, delivery, actual planting, and 

 all other incidental expenses properly chargeable to the account, 

 was $11.24 P er 1,000 plants, or a trifle over one cent each. For 

 the most part these costs ran remarkably uniform, the lowest 

 being $7.60 and the highest $14.25, both of these figures being 

 for a plantation of a single 1,000, while the costs for lots of 

 5,000 or more ran from $9.80 to $10.65 P er !,ooo. 



It is the intention to sell three-year-old transplants of either 

 pine or spruce at a flat rate of $5.00 per 1,000 in the spring of 

 1917, and we already have orders for more than 35,000 trees. 



If the receipts from the sale of planting stock from the Forest 

 Nursery are to be turned over to the State Treasury as has been 

 the case in the past, provision will have to be made for a small 

 annual appropriation for this account; but if these sales can be 

 credited to a special account for that purpose and allowed to 

 accumulate arm ue drawn upon for necessary labor and sup- 

 plies, this work will soon become self-supporting. 



The stock now on hand in the Forest Nursery includes tiie 

 following: 



