23 



PLANTING. 



The land to be planted includes the cultivated, the pasture and the 

 bush pasture types. There is an addition in the young sprout type 

 150 acres which were burnt over at the north end of the pond (lots 

 106-113), and some 60 acres, included in lots 149, 150, 153, 157 and 

 160, just cut off, where the reproduction is deficient, which might well 

 be planted, although this last is not as important as the other areas. 

 The tree to use in practically all cases is the white pine, for the follow- 

 ing reasons : 



1. For causes given in the preliminary part of this report, conifers 

 are the best protectors of a watershed. 



2. It is one of the most rapid-growing trees in this section. 



3. Of all forest tree seedlings, those of pine can be most readily 

 obtained. 



4. The species adapts itself easily to a wide range of soil and 

 moisture condition. 



5. White pine wood has a very general usefulness, and is therefore 

 readily sold. 



For planting purposes, two and three year old seedlings are used 

 most commonly, but on exposed situations and among thick bushes 

 one-year transplants are found to do better. These are three-year-old 

 seedlings which in the second year were changed to another bed. The 

 effect of the transplanting is to give the trees a stockier root 

 system. 



American nurserymen charge $4 per 1,000 for the seedlings, and 

 $7 for the transplants. They can be obtained in Germany for $1.75 

 and $2.50, if bought in quantities of 100,000 or more. Freight, duty 

 and other charges add about $2 to this cost. The European stock is 

 fully as good as the native, and on account of superior methods of 

 packing often arrives on this side in better condition than material 

 from nurseries in the middle west. A good planting distance is 6 by 

 8 feet, which spacing requires the use of 900 plants to the acre. This 

 makes the cost for seedlings average $3.50 per acre for foreign plants 

 and $3.90 for native. On cut land which is to be interplanted the 

 number of seedlings necessary to supply an acre would not be more 

 than 500. 



Four men and a boy make the most effective planting crew. Such 

 a squad should set out 4 acres a day. This makes the labor cost $3 

 per acre. On the bush pasture there are $2 extra for cutting bushes. 

 On the interplanted land the cost would be slightly less, say $2 an 

 acre. 



