RESULTS OF DIRECT SEEDING IN THE BLACK HILLS. 

 By John Murdock, Jr. 



The first work in direct seeding in the Black Hills of which 

 there is any record was done in 1905, on the Custer Peak Experi- 

 ment Area, near Roubaix. Approximately 28 acres were broad- 

 casted, and 12 sown with corn planters, with seed from the Pecos 

 National Forest, New Mexico, of the crop of 1903. The season 

 was an exceptionally wet one, and although the work was done 

 late in May, the results were very good by both methods. Even 

 here the results were uneven, adjacent plots, sown with equal 

 amounts of seed and with apparently exactly similar conditions 

 of ground cover showing great differences in the resulting stand. 

 One remarkable feature is, that in many instances the best stands 

 are in the heaviest sod. 



Work was continued at Roubaix in 1906, 1907 and 1908 with 

 Black Hills seed of the crop of 1905. The results in 1906 were 

 quite poor. In 1907 they were again good, almost equalling those 

 in 1905. In 1908 the results were again poor. Additional sowing 

 in 1908 with some old seed collected at Glenn, Nebraska, gave 

 very poor results, as did the experiments that same year with 

 Douglas Fir. One acre was broadcasted after harrowing, half 

 with pine and half with fir. The germination here was much 

 better than on the rest, but only a few of the resulting seedlings 

 survived the winter. 



In 1909, approximately 650 acres were broadcasted with Yellow 

 Pine from the Black Hills, of the crop of 1908. The bulk of the 

 work was done in four plantations, at Red fern, Dumont, the 

 Fair Grounds, and Savoy. 



The results at Redfern were extremely poor, giving a stand of 

 not over 100 or 200 seedlings per acre on most of the area. At 

 Dumont, the results were much better, but by no means satis- 

 factory. At the Fair Grounds and at Savoy, the results were also 

 unsatisfactory. In view of the discoveries of 1910, it seems prob- 

 able that rodents were largely responsible for the poor results, 

 since the weather conditions appeared perfect. 



