FARMERS' INSTITUTES. 79 



seed. There is no better fertilizer than stable manure, but it is not 

 easily and cheaply transported and always carries weed seed. 



In the location of the nursery at the College, permission was given 

 by the Experiment Station to use a triangular piece of land, three acres 

 in extent, lying between a river and a railroad track. The slope is 

 northern and sufficient that the soil is liable to wash at times of hard 

 showers. The larger part of the plot had been seeded to clover after 

 wheat and the rest had gTown rape. While the piece of land was not 

 all that could have been desired for the purpose, it was necessary that 

 it be near the office of the department, and it is within about five 

 minutes' ^walk and can be reached on a wheel. One corner of this place 

 was plowed April 20th and pine seed planted the same day. A bed, 

 four feet wide and eight feet long, was made in one corner, and be- 

 tween this and the next bed a walk, eighteen inches wide, was left. The 

 beds are all the same width, increasing in length to forty-eight feet, 

 when it was found convenient to have a cross path. 



The soil was prepared as for fine garden seed, and then the seed was 

 sown broadcast, intending to have between two and three hundred seeds 

 per square foot. The seeds were then covered by sifting soil over them 

 to the depth of about one-half inch. This excluded all lumps and stones 

 and secured a fairly uniform depth of cover. Next the beds were 

 stamped with a piece of plank fastened to the end of a stake. The beds 

 were then covered with two or three inches of leaves and upon these 

 were placed the lath screens. This made ideal conditions for seed germina- 

 tion. The tree seed under these conditions seemed to germinate better 

 than the weed seed. After about a month the seed had started to germi- 

 nate the leaves were removed and the screens supported about fourteen 

 inches above the beds. The lath screens cost thirteen cents each four 

 feet square. Strips of five-cent muslin were sewed together and stretched 

 over a part of one bed. Beech brush were hauled from the woods, cut 

 into short lengths and put over the rest of the beds and of the three 

 kinds of screen used, this proved the least desirable because the spar- 

 rows were troublesome where it was used, and it was very inconvenient 

 to handle. The first cost was less than either of the others, but it proves 

 more expensive in the end. 



Thirty -three feet on the end of one bed was fertilized with a phosphate 

 known to the trade as "Tuscarora" at the rate of 960 pounds per 

 acre. Another bed was fertilized with nitrate of soda at the rate of 

 480 pounds per acre. Another bed was fertilized with potassium sul- 

 phate at the rate of 368 pounds per acre. The results of these fertilizing 

 experiments can not be given at this time. 



The Norway pine and the lodge-pole pine seed came up well, but the 

 White pine was very unsatisfactory, as seems to have been the case in 

 other parts of the country last season. Several of the western conifers 

 were started and also the southern bald cypress. 



When spring opens, several thousand of the yearling seedling pines 

 will be transplanted so that all may have more room. All must be kept 

 screened until the end of the second season. When the plants are three 

 or four years old, they will be ready to plant into their permanent 

 location. 



