82 FIRST BOOK OF FORESTRY 



Seed Bed. To raise plants of broad-leaved trees any good 

 garden beds will do ; for pine and other conifers most gar- 

 dens have too much stable manure, and a small spot in the 

 woods is often better. Broad-leaved kinds need a good 

 loam, but can stand quite heavy clay ; but the conifers 

 fare better on a sandy soil. All seed beds should be 

 plowed or spaded deeply to loosen the soil for the roots, 

 and the land should be well fertilized with phosphate 

 of lime, well rotted compost, or forest mold. All this 

 is easily done where only a few thousand plants are to be 

 raised; for abed four by twelve feet is capable of producing 

 a thousand or more of such plants as pine and spruce. 



For this reason some prefer raising tree seedlings in 

 boxes in the house, or under glass, and in many cases 

 this way is the cheapest and most convenient. Of course 

 where a large forest has to be supplied every year with 

 plants it is necessary to have a large nursery. 



Sowing. In sowing large seeds it is generally better 

 to plant in drills, which may be made with a narrow gar- 

 den hoe; but for small seeds the drills should be pressed 

 into the ground with a drill board, shown in Fig. 27, where 

 the two cleats make the drills. In boxes and where space 

 is valuable broadcast sowing may be employed. With 

 most of the broad-leaved kinds the drills should not be 

 closer than twelve inches ; for conifers six inches suffices. 



As soon as fhey are in the ground, conifer seeds should 

 be covered about one half inch; maple, ash, etc., about 



