308 SEEDING AND PLANTING 



periment station indicate that western white pine seedling stock 

 has a rate of growth equal to transplants, and a lower cost per sur- 

 viving tree. Yellow pine seedlings have greater survival, more 

 rapid growth, and a cost per surviving tree 300 per cent less than 

 yellow pine transplants. The extensive coniferous plantations 

 established in recent years by the Pennsylvania Forest Service 

 have been formed almost entirely from 2-year seedling stock. 

 The large plantations of white pine made in Michigan during the 

 past decade by the Forest Commission have been formed by plant- 

 ing 2-year stock in plowed furrows. This regeneration has been 

 attained at a cost of from $7 to $8 an acre with a percentage of 

 failed places, in many instances, of less than 6 per cent of the total 

 number of trees planted. Although the above results are by no 

 means conclusive and are applicable to special sites, they clearly 

 indicate the usefulness of seedlings in the artificial regeneration of 

 coniferous forests in the United States. The present tendency to 

 use white pine and red pine transplants on all classes of sites in 

 New England is expensive and unnecessary. Well-grown, robust 

 seedlings will succeed equally well on the better sites and the 

 regeneration can be attained at much less cost per surviving 

 tree. 



Mayr 1 states that in European practice the various species of 

 pine are usually grown to the proper size for field planting without 

 transplanting. The practitioner must determine for each species 

 and locality the size and quality of stock that it is most advanta- 

 geous to use. His judgment must be based chiefly upon the char- 

 acteristics of the species and the condition of the site as to cover 

 and soil. 



The stock used for transplanting is usually 1-, 2-, or weakly 

 developed 3-year plants. In the tropics the most suitable age is 

 often but a few weeks. The various species of Eucalyptus and 

 occasionally other species are transplanted in California and 

 Florida when but a few months old. When used for forest plant- 

 ing, the stock usually remains in the transplant bed but 1 or 2 

 years. WTien left longer in the transplant bed most species 

 require thinning and severe root pruning or retransplanting. 

 Stock grown for forest planting in the United States is usually 

 held only 1 year in the transplant led. 



1 Mayr, Heinrich: Waldbau auf naturgesetzlicher Grundlage. S. 404. 

 Berlin, 1909. 



