GROWING EVERGREENS FROM SEED. 311 



seed I smooth and pack the surface hy patting with the back of a 

 bright spade, and then sift on clean sand, a quarter of an inch deep 

 over the smaller seeds, like the arbor vitse and white spruce, and a 

 half-inch deep over the larger seeds. I tind that many varieties of 

 weed seed do not germinate as freely under such a layer of sand, 

 and that it makes a most excellent mulch to retain the moisture of 

 the soil in such a case as this, where cultivation is impossible. As 

 soon as the seed is sown the land should be inclosed with poultry 

 netting with the lower selvedge carefully staked down, so that no 

 dog, rabbit or even mud turtle will be able to get within the inclos- 

 ure, as there are several weeks that the tracks of even such insignifi- 

 cant creatures will be very destructive. 



And now begins the merry war with beast, bird, drouth, weeds 

 and fungus. All are the avowed, persistent and frequently success- 

 ful enemies of the undertaking. Scatter poisoned corn meal mush 

 as long as there are indications that any rodents are left. Keep a 

 boy with a shotgun and plenty of ammunition working in or near the 

 beds every day to scare away the birds, until the trees are well in 

 leaf. Water in time of severe drouth, root out the weeds, and within 

 a few weeks you will have a reasonable certainty of gazing with 

 pride and satisfaction upon a multitude of little trees. But, alas, 

 your wonder will change to a very different feeling, as within a few 

 days you stand helpless, watching your fine stand of seedlings 

 change to ragged and unprofitable beds, the work of an unseen and, 

 so far as we know, uncontrollable fungus. The remedy that is gen- 

 erally proposed for "damping ofif," I have given a pretty thorough 

 trial without being able to discover any important difiference be- 

 tween those portions of the beds that were treated and those un- 

 treated. It is a very tedious and expensive process — sprinkling with 

 sand, which has been dried and stored for the purpose, over the beds 

 as the ground begins to dry after each rain. It may do some good, 

 but it is no specific. Perhaps I did not go at it the right way, and 

 perhaps I had a virulent form of the disease. I shall try again and 

 advise others to do so. The greatest surprise that I have had in 

 watching the erratic conduct of this destructive fungus was in losing 

 a fine stand of Scotch pine and Norway spruce during three weeks 

 of perfect drouth last summer. I thought it ideal seedling weather, 

 but they damped off just the same, although the surface of the 

 ground was bone dry. 



The summer care of the beds is the simplest possible matter, 

 consisting entirely of pulling the weeds as fast as they get large 

 enough to handle. 



On the approach of winter, poison should be again freely used 



