GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS 85 



7. The Difference in Cost 



The initial cost for direct seeding is less than for planting when 

 the seed is obtained at low cost and little or no preliminary treat- 

 ment of the soil is required. The cost of the seed, however, 

 is usually a large item, and only in exceptional cases is direct 

 seeding successful without considerable outlay for the removal of 

 surface vegetation and the loosening of the soil. For this reason 

 the cost of direct seeding may be far above that incurred in plant- 

 ing. The seed of red pine and jack pine costs in the open market 

 from $3 to $4 per pound. The high cost of the seed alone usually 

 prohibits its use in direct seeding. On the other hand, yellow 

 pine and white pine seed can usually be purchased at from one- 

 third to one-fourth as much. As a rule, broadleaved species are 

 more acceptable for direct seeding than conifers. 



In a comparison of the results of direct seeding and planting on 

 the National Forests made by Greeley l in 1913, he gives an aver- 

 age of 20 per cent of successful reforestation by direct seeding as 

 compared with 75 per cent of successful reforestation by planting. 

 The approximate cost per acre for direct seeding was $4 and 

 for planting $10. On this basis, successful restocking by direct 

 seeding costs $20 per acre and successful restocking by planting 

 $12.50. 



The extremely high percentage of failures from direct seeding in 

 the United States should not condemn the method but rather warn 

 against its use except on sites and under conditions that give reason- 

 able hope of success. It is the frequency of failures that makes 

 the average cost of successful reforestation by direct seeding 

 high in this country. When direct seeding is confined to ade- 

 quately protected sites where the soil is a good germinating bed, 

 the average cost is usually below that of planting. Greeley says, 

 " Present results indicate that direct seeding should be confined to 

 the best one-third or one-half of the denuded land in the National 

 Forests. How much of this can be reforested by direct seeding 

 at a lower cost than by planting depends chiefly upon the reduc- 

 tion of failures below the average of the present time. To what 

 extent this reduction is possible the future must determine." 



1 Greeley, W. B.: Reforestation on the national forests. (Proc. Soc. Am. 

 For., vol. VIII, p. 275. 1913.) 



