140 Forestry Quarterly. 



Except on the most unfavorable sites this regeneration is by- 

 sowing. Not by broad casting or harrowing, but by sowing in 

 carefully prepared drills by means of a seeding-machine such as 

 the well known one of Drewitz. Either the area to be seeded in 

 the spring is plowed in the fall by means of a standard forest plow 

 such as H. F. Eckert's model, or — and this is considered the better 

 practice — the strips are hacked in the fall or winter by a gang of 

 women armed with ordinary potato hacks. The sod, moss and 

 weeds thus removed are piled on the adjacent, unbacked strips- 

 Then the area is seeded in spring. Seed spots find little favor; 

 for although they are cheaper than the strips, the better growth of 

 pine in strips more than offsets this. 



Formerly large amounts of seed were used per acre. In 1881 

 no less an authority than the late Danckelmann taught 7^ pounds 

 of seed per acre ; now it is universally 2^ pounds of seed per acre 

 on an average. 



The success achieved has actually been in reverse ratio to the 

 amount of seed used ; since the thickly seeded areas came up so 

 densely that the resulting stand stagnated in its youth. 



In present practice the strips are about 50 inches apart. 



For planting the area is prepared similarly ; the plants — usually 

 one or two year old seedlings, or 3 — 5 year old transplants, ac- 

 cording to the difficulty of the site — are spaced some 18 inches 

 apart in rows 50 inches apart. This means from 8,000 to 12,000 

 plants per acre. Balled plants or wild stock find little favor — the 

 former because of the great expense, the latter because it is seldom 

 as thrifty as and but little cheaper than nursery stock. 



The seed is secured from cones gathered at the various Ober- 

 forstereien (National Forests) and dried at one of the many, 

 centrally located, government owned "Darren." A germination 

 of 85% is considered standard, but variations occur between 65% 

 and 95%.* 



The seedlings are usually raised in a nursery on the Ober- 

 forsterei. Where the area to be restocked is large, the stock is 

 taken from the permanent, large nursery ; where the area is small, 

 the stock is raised in a small, temporary nursery, provided a suit- 

 able site can be found. In this case, some of the plants are left 



*See Forestry Quarterly, Volume 9, No. i, and Volume 10. No. 2, "Seed 

 Extracting Establishments." 



