38 Forestry Quarterly 



period April 22 to 30. Germination in these beds was very slow 

 and irregular. Dry weather in May made it necessary to water 

 the beds before germination. The mulch was not removed until 

 the last week in May, and at that time it was feared the beds 

 would be failures. Careful watering, however, brought the 

 germination up to a satisfactory percentage. On September 21 

 these beds were estimated on the basis of a count of all the 

 seedlings present on a strip across the bed 1 foot wide, the strip 

 taken at the center of each bed. The thirteen beds with no char- 

 coal content gave an average establishment of 17 per cent. The 

 fifteen beds treated with charcoal in the spring of 1912, which 

 have raised one crop of two-year seedlings, gave an average 

 establishment of 26.8 per cent. A count of fifteen strips on beds 

 of the section containing 97 beds treated in the fall of 1913, gave 

 an average establishment of 28.2 per cent., or 11,850 seedlings to 

 the bed, a better average than the test plots. 



It may be fairly objected that the best test in such an experi- 

 ment is not numbers, but quality of the product. To meet this 

 objection the following table is submitted. One hundred trees 

 were taken from each of four beds ; the trees being taken in each 

 case from the northeast corner of the bed, and as they ran. There 

 was no attempt at any selection of best or even average trees. 

 From the standpoint of density, the trees from the untreated beds 

 had the most growing space, and the trees from the fall beds the 

 least. The table shows, however, that the weights do not cor- 

 respond to the growing space, but to the kind of soil, and to the 

 age of the tree. (See also frontispiece.) 



Number of Lot When Sown Time of Applica- Weight of the 



lion of Charcoal Bunch in Grams 



1 spring 1914 none present 22. 



2 '. spring 1914 spring 1912 39.3 



3'"' spring 1914 falll913 35.3 



4 ■■■ falll913 faU 1913 40.3 



51" fall 1913 faU 1913 48. 5 



The great problem of the nurseryman is the control of the fungi 

 causing the so-called "damping-off." During the past few years 

 there have been several publications issued telling of work along 

 this line. The work of Spaulding, Hartley, and Johnson may be 



'Same bundle as previous one hundred, but fair sized trees substituted 

 for the culls. Illustration numbers correspond to this table. 



