266 SEEDING AND PLANTING 



All species in which the seed cannot be easily kept over winter 

 without great loss in viability should be sown in the autumn. 

 Thus, chestnut, many oaks, and the various species of fir and 

 cypress usually produce much better stands when sown in the 

 autumn. Western white pine, sugar pine, larch, and the Pacific 

 form of Douglas fir should, in most localities, be sown in the 

 autumn. When sown in the spring or early summer they are 

 much slower and more irregular in germination. The impor- 

 ^ tant dangers to which autumn-sown seedbeds are subjected are 

 injury by mice and other rodents and germination before cold 

 weather begins. Provision must be made to protect the beds from 

 rodents and the seeding must be delayed until all danger of warm 

 weather is past. Although all species may be sown in the autumn 

 when adequately protected, it has been the usual practice in the 

 United States to sow in the spring or early summer, except species 

 slow to germinate or which produce seed difficult to store in dried 

 condition. 



Local climatic conditions may be favorable for autumn seeding 

 in one locality and less favorable in another. Regions subject to 

 heavy winter precipitation and prolonged summer drought are 

 usually favorable for autumn seeding, while regions subject to 

 dry, cold winters with little snow are much less favorable. Regions 

 with a short growing season and late spring are usually favorable 

 for autumn seeding, while regions with an early spring and long 

 growing season are more favorable for spring seeding. 



The present tendency in nearly all parts of the United States is 

 more and more toward autumn seeding because of its relation 

 to nursery practice. It makes possible the distribution of labor 

 to better advantage. Work is comparatively slack in the late 

 autumn, while the lifting, packing, and shipping of nursery stock 

 during the spring months often delay the seeding until early 

 summer. Stock produced from late seeding is but one-half to 

 one-third as heavy as that from autumn or early spring seeding 

 and is much more subject to winter killing. 



Autumn-sown seedbeds that are shaded during the first year 

 are much more liable to be overgrown with moss than are spring- 

 sown beds. When the soil is loose and sandy, damage from moss 

 seldom occurs. On loam and heavier soils, however, the abun- 

 dant growth of moss often completely covers the soil between the 

 young seedlings. This condition can be remedied best by breaking 



