RECENT FOREST PLANTING IN CONNECTICUT. 



There are three main reasons why forest planting has been ne- 

 glected in this part of New England. These are: (1) Danger 

 from forest fires; (2) Ignorance as to the suitable species, methods 

 of planting, probable returns, etc.; (3) Lack of plant material. 



In Connecticut we are trying to overcome these difficulties, and the 

 results are already reassuring. A law providing for forest fire war- 

 dens acting under the direction of the State Forester was passed by 

 the last legislature, and although it is too soon to prophecy the re- 

 sults of this law, there is already a feeling of greater security, and 

 some towns which have annually suffered severe loss have been free 

 from fires the past spring. 



Planting experiments by the Agricultural Experiment Station 

 bear out the general testimony that White Pine is the best tree for 

 planting, with Chestnut, Red and White Oaks, and possibly Scotch 

 Pine as secondary species. In advising farmers and other land 

 owners regarding the planting of old fields we avoid elaborate plant- 

 ing plans with complicated mixtures, usually advising a pure White 

 Pine stand, the instructions for the establishment of which are nat- 

 urally very simple. 



Except in the case of very extensive plantations it is undoubtedly 

 better policy to purchase nursery stock than to try to raise it, as the 

 present high price of labor makes it impossible to raise seedlings on 

 a small scale economically. This spring we sowed fifty pounds of 

 White Pine seed in our nursery with the expectation of having in 

 two years plants for sale as well as for our own use on the Station 

 and State property. This seed cost on an average $1.90 a pound. 

 As our experiments have shown an average of 6,000 seedlings from 

 a pound of seed, this should insure a crop of 300,000 seedlings. 



With the exception of a few thousand seedlings raised in our 

 nursery and in those of various Water Boards there was no native 

 supply of seedlings in the State this spring. Letters were written 

 to the large nurserymen of the country asking their lowest figures 

 for 100,000 two or three-year-old White Pine seedlings. The most 

 favorable bid, for two-year seedlings was $3.75 per thousand. Other 

 bids were up to $12.00 or even more per thousand. Order blanks 

 were then sent to landowners of the State who were known to be in- 



