SILVICULTURAL PROBLEMS IX PENNSYLVANIA oO-J 



fall of 191G an examination was made of all the plantations then 

 located on the State forests and the percentage of establishment was 

 as follows : 



Number of trees Percentage of trees 



Species planted living 



White pine '. 14,871,797 74.7 



Scotch pine 1,334,234 76.1 



Pitch pine 483,716 79.1 



Red pine 893,355 69.0 



Norway spruce 2,785,222 71.1 



European larch 297,117 66.5 



Red oak 294,877 33.8 



Honev locust 110,950 39.3 



Wild black cherry 64,340 39.7 



Black walnut 33.505 53.2 



White ash 104,045 51.4 



Sugar maple 99,284 51.4 



This table shows that most of the important coniferous species may 

 be set out with the assurance that they will take hold of the soil and 

 grow. Much better results are now being secured than the percentages 

 of establishment given in the foregoing table, for it includes all the trail 

 and experimental plantings made in the early days of the undertaking. 

 In some of the recent and large plantations of white pine, pitch pine, 

 red pine, Scotch pine, and Norway spruce as high as 95 to 98 per cent 

 of the planted trees are living and thrifty. It follows that the technique 

 of planting coniferous forest trees is now well understood, and that 

 they may be set out with the assurance that most of them will grow, 

 if the best knowledge of the practice is applied. 



The raising and planting of hardwoods, however, is still in the forma- 

 tive period of its development and consists chiefly of trial plantings 

 with uncertain results. The foregoing table shows an establishment 

 ranging from 33.3 to 53.2 per cent. These percentages are low, the 

 cause for which should not be placed entirely upon a deficient planting 

 technique, for it is more difficult to determine accurately the establish- 

 ment of deciduous than evergreen trees. Recent re-examinations of 

 some of the hardwood plantations show a better establishment than 

 was originally recorded. But in spite of the fact that the given per- 

 centages may be conservative, our knowledge of handling hardwood 

 -ccdlings is still woefully deficient and unreliable. In order to over- 

 come this deficiency to some degree a large quantity of different species 

 of hardwoods was sown during the past year in the nurseries operated 

 by the Department of Forestry with the hope that better methods of 

 handling them may be devised. 



