SEED BED FRAMES MEAN SAFETY FOR SEEDLINGS 



Frames are constructed with burlap sides and shaded tops which insure even germination. 

 Covered with wire netting, rodents and birds are unable to gain entrance. Care and at- 

 tention paid to seedlings assures a sturdy gro\\th for transplanting. (Fig. 5.) 



these questions constitute a p.-oblem ot" 

 vital importance and absorbing interest. 

 It is not possible to draw positive con- 

 clusions from three or four years of 

 work. It is hoped that the future 

 development, on the different plantinjj 

 sites, of the seedlings from diseased 

 parent trees will throw some light upon 

 this problem. It is planned, moreover, 

 to amplify this phase of the study by the 

 collection of seed in the fall of 1917 from 

 a considerable ntimber of diseased trees, 

 and from an equal number of trees 

 which are sound but otherwise as similar 

 as possible to the diseased trees. The 

 pathology of the diseased trees will be 

 carefully studied and the whole conduct 

 of the work will be more intensive than 

 was the case for this particular phase of 

 the present study. 



RESULTS FROM FIELD PLANTATIONS 



The compilations of the growth 

 measurements for two years in the 1915 

 plantations and for one year in the 1916 



plantations have served only to empha- 

 size the impossibility of drawing con- 

 clusions from such short-time observa- 

 tions. There were no consistencies 

 which can be cited as even indicating the 

 possible trend of differences among the 

 various classes of trees. It is too soon 

 to expect the true hereditary qualities 

 of the trees to appear in any measurable 

 degree. At the end of the first five 

 years, however, detailed compilations 

 will be made which are expected to yield 

 at least indicative results. At the end 

 of twenty years the problem, for im- 

 mediate practical purposes, should be 

 solved. 



It is a superior merit of Government 

 research that the element of time need 

 not hamper the plan or ultimate conduct 

 of an important study. In the present 

 instance it is planned to make observa- 

 tions of the field plantations for at least 

 forty years, and in all likelihood it will 

 be found that valuable data can be ac- 



491 



