64 THE WHITE PIXK. 



to the percentage of germination. In ordinary collecting the percentage of germinating seeds 

 may not exceed 75 per cent, and, as is indicated in the discussion ou seed supply (page 23), it may 

 fall far below this figure in some years. Even if -!0,000 to 25,000 seeds should germinate per 

 pound, it would not be safe to count on more than 5,000 to 8,000 seedlings that will grow to use, 

 and in the transplanting to nursery rows an allowance of at least 5 to 10 per cent should be made 

 for losses, so that to secure 10,000 transplants at least 1 pounds of seed is needed, to secure 

 which it may take from 3 to 4 bushels of cones. 



Close planting is indicated on account of the difficulty with which this pine cleans itself of its 

 branches. It should be planted not more than 4 feet apart or, preferably, set out in mixture with 

 a shady, slower growing companion, the Black Spruce (Plcea nigra) being an ideal choice within 

 its habitat, and of broad-leafed trees the Sugar Maple (Acer saccharinum), which, for the sake of 

 economy, may be sown between the wider spaced (8 feet or more) plants of White Pine. The 

 mixture should not stop here, but other kinds chosen with circumspection from the many that are 

 found associated with the White Pine in its natural habitat should be added, as Chestnut, Yellow, 

 and Red Birch, Basswood, Hickories, and Oaks, and of conifers, the Ked Pine, Hemlock, and 

 occasionally in some localities Arborvitic. 



Dr. Fernow has for some time (since 1887) advocated a method of forest planting in which the 

 main or "final harvest crop" is distinguished from the mere "nurse crop" or "filler," when only 

 500 or 600 trees per acre, or even less, of the better kinds are set out with care as the main crop, 

 receiving due attention in their further development, and the nurse crop is introduced of the 

 cheapest kinds and in the cheapest manner to act as soil cover to check weed growth and stimu- 

 late height growth, straight form, and cleaning of the main crop. The White Pine would, of 

 course, be a most excellent main crop. 



By the fiftieth year or so the pines, if set out at the rate of 500, will have overtopped the 

 nurse crop, except where trees of the latter have taken the place of a failing pine, and their 

 crowns will have closed up, their boles straight and clean, furnishing clear lumber, if the nurse 

 crop was properly chosen and has done its duty. The further management then would concern 

 itself mostly with gradual thinning out of the main crop to secure the diameter accretion due to 

 increased crown development and light. By the one hundredth year it will be reasonable 

 to expect at least half the trees set out to have reached their highest value in maturity and size, 

 with 15,000 to 20,000 cubic feet to the acre, for the White Pine is not only a rapid grower, but a 

 large producer, its shade endurance permitting as large a number of trees to develop satisfactorily 

 per acre as the Spruce, which it outgrows in height and diameter. 



While planting nursery-grown seedlings as a rule furnishes better results, sowing the seeds 

 into permanent sites may, under certain conditions, especially on soils not too prone to weed growth 

 and in the more humid climate of the Northeastern States, prove satisfactory and cheaper. 



Various methods can be employed according to circumstances. On light soils sowing broad- 

 cast on snow may furnish satisfactory results; ou heavier soils preparation of the ground to receive 

 the seed will prove indispensable. This may be done by plowing furrows or by hoeing plats of 2 

 or 3 feet square (the larger size where overgrowing by brushwood is to be feared) and sowing into 

 these in drills or broadcast. Dr. Fernow devised such a method for reclothing cut-over lands on 

 slopes in Pennsylvania grown up with brush, where it would be too expensive to prepare the entire 

 ground. Here the plats were made larger, 4 or even feet square, and into these not only pines were 

 either planted or sown but also a nurse crop surrounding the pines, expectation being that this 

 nurse crop will protect the pines against the encroachment of the surrounding brush growth until 

 the pines are tall enough to fight their own battle and finally kill out the brush. A fuller descrip- 

 tion of these plantings is to be found in Bulletin 17, "Check list of the forest trees of the United 

 States," etc., of the Division of Forestry. 



PLANTING NOTES. 



The following notes on planted groves, their condition, growth, and results are given a place 

 here as recording individual experiences in various parts of the country, without intending to 

 recommend the practices of the planters, which, from the forester's point of view, are faulty in some 

 directions, especially in the open stand, which is advocated : 



In Eastern Massachusetts, particularly in Plymouth and Bristol counties, there are numerous small bodies of 

 White Pine that wcro set out from forty to lil'ty years ago, and whose rapid growth and healthy conditions show that 



