FOREST commissioner's REPORT. 75 



The age at which trees should be planted is at two or three 

 years. On sites of good soil, with good moisture conditions, 

 two year old stock is sometimes very satisfactory. On the 

 average land it is recommended that the stock be three years 

 old, — having had one year in the seed-bed, and transplanted once 

 to specially prepared beds for two years longer. It has been 

 found that three year old trees, once transplanted in the nursery, 

 make the most profitable stock to use. 



Planting in the Field. 



The best method of putting the transplants in the grounl 

 is that in \vhich the mattock is used for making the hole. 

 Tw^o men working together, one handling the mattock and 

 the other putting in the plants, can cover about an acre a 

 day under good conditions. The trees should be spaced ap- 

 proximately six feet apart each way — much wider spacing, 

 except under half shade such as occurs in openings within the 

 woods, would result in too limby growth, and a narrower spac- 

 ing would crowd too much. Using 6x6 spacing it takes 12 lo 

 trees to the acre. Taking the cost of the transplants at $5 per 

 thousand, and labor at $2 a day, the total cost of stocking an 

 acre of land amounts to about $10. 



Supply of Planting Stock. 



The State Nursery is not of sufficient size to furnish trans- 

 plants for all the unproductive land in the state, except through 

 a great number of years. The function of this nursery can be 

 only to supply enough stock to each applicant, for a few acres, 

 to give demonstration of the practicability of the method and 

 advantage of reforestation. It is entirely feasible that the trees 

 be grown at home, however, and a short description of how 

 this can be done is given in the bulletin issued by this Depart- 

 ment — "Suggestion for Woodlot Owners in Maine." This may 

 be obtained upon application. Raising the nursery stock from 

 seed is however, to be recommended only when reforesting 

 operations are to be conducted on a large scale. 



There are a number of commercial nurseries that are equipped 

 for supplying large quantities of stock very reasonably. A list 

 of such dealers is given in the appendix. 



