86 SEEDING AND PLANTING 



8. The Difference in Time Required for the Stand to Close 



The time required for a stand to close is longer in the case of 

 direct seeding than in planting. Most conifers when planted 6 

 feet apart close in from 6 to 10 years' time. When the same species 

 are sown direct and there is the same number of trees per acre the 

 resulting stand will not close in a period less than from 10 to 15 

 years. Because of the more rapid juvenile growth of broadleaved 

 species, the difference in the time required for the reproduction to 

 close is not so marked as in conifers. An advance of from 3 to 5 

 years in the closing of a stand is of large economic importance and 

 must be taken into account in the choice between direct seeding and 

 planting. On sites that are likely to deteriorate when exposed to 

 the sun and on areas subject to erosion, the length of time required 

 for the reproduction to close may be the deciding factor in making 

 a choice between direct seeding and planting. 



9. The Difference in the Quality of the Stand 

 In direct seeding the trees remain throughout life in the po- 

 sition where they germinate. In planting, on the other hand, the 

 shifting of the trees to their permanent sites is a more or less 

 severe operation and temporarily checks growth even under the 

 best conditions. To what extent the interruption of growth 

 caused by planting affects the later quality of the stand as com- 

 pared with one arising from direct seeding is not definitely known. 

 It is possible that certain species with deeply penetrating tap 

 roots and few laterals in their early life are permanently injured 

 by planting. 



The difference in the early condition of the stand arising from 

 planting as compared with direct seeding is chiefly due to the 

 much greater irregularities in the latter. In planting the trees 

 are all equally spaced and, as a result, the ground from the first 

 is more likely to be fully occupied. Direct seeding seldom re- 

 sults in a stand of uniform density over the entire area. In some 

 places it will be too dense and in others too open. In order to 

 bring it to the uniformity of a planted stand it is usually necessary 

 to incur considerable expense in filling blanks with nursery-grown 

 stock or in shifting some of the young trees from the places where 

 the stand is too dense to the more open spaces. If this is neg- 

 lected, the stand develops unevenly and the resulting crop is not 

 fully stocked. 



