CHAPTER XIII 



THE FOREST NURSERY (Continued) 

 1. Cultural Operations; Technique and Methods 



THE portions of the forest nursery that are not lying fallow 

 or given over for the time being to soiling and agricultural 

 crops are formed into seedbeds and transplant beds. The relative 

 proportion of each depends upon the kind and character of the 

 stock produced. In exceptional cases only seedlings are grown, 

 the stock being transferred directly from the seedbed to the 

 plantation. In other cases, the seedlings are all transferred to 

 transplant beds for a period of one or two years before planting 

 in the field. When the stock is made into transplants the area of 

 the seedbeds varies from one-twentieth to one-sixth of the area 

 of the transplant beds, depending upon the species and the length 

 of time that the stock remains in the seedbeds and in the transplant 

 beds. 



2. SEEDBEDS 



In most nurseries seedlings are grown in rotation with trans- 

 plants and other crops. The size and form of the seedbeds depend 

 upon the locality and species and also upon the cultural methods 

 employed, particularly the method of shading, watering, and work- 

 ing the soil. 



Assuming that the soil has been adequately enriched and pre- 

 pared by previous cultivation and cleaned of all debris, such as 

 sods, weeds, roots, and stones, the beds are formed shortly before 

 the seed is sown. 



In European practice, seedbeds are usually made from 1 to 

 1.2 meters (3.28 to 3.94 feet) wide. 1 In most of the large forest 

 nurseries of northern Germany the beds for all species are 1 .2 

 meters (3.94 feet) wide and usually of the same length as the 

 compartment, or when the compartment is large of but one-half 

 its length. When the beds are sown broadcast or in closely 



1 Heyer, Carl: Der Waldbau oder die Forstproduktenzucht. 5. Aufl., 

 1. Bd., S. 228. Leipzig, 1906. 



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