THE FOREST NURSERY 259 



with nurserymen is to work the nursery under a rotation of 3 

 or 4 years. A heavy dressing of farm manure or other fertilizer 

 is applied and a farm crop is grown the first year. This is followed 

 by seedbeds or transplant beds which occupy the soil for 2 or 3 

 years, after which the rotation is repeated. 



Pettis 1 has made the light, sandy soils of the New York State 

 nurseries in the Adirondack Mountains highly fertile and has im- 

 proved their consistency by using muck, hardwood ashes, and 

 nitrate of soda as the principal fertilizers. The muck, which con- 

 tains nearly 70 per cent of organic matter, is excavated and ex- 

 posed to the air for several months before using. A heavy dressing 

 is spread over the soil in late winter or early spring, and unleached 

 hardwood ashes (40 bushels per acre) added to neutralize the acid. 

 Later when the beds are formed, the nitrogen is increased by the 

 application of from 300 to 400 pounds of nitrate of soda. Al- 

 though the above produced excellent results, the same author 2 

 has found that well-rotted horse manure is equally, if not more, 

 efficacious at less cost. 



It has been the practice on the loose, sandy soil at the Halsey 

 nursery 3 to grow nursery stock for 1 or 2 years and after its 

 removal to apply from 50 to 120 tons of well-rotted farm manure 

 per acre. This is turned under in the spring and a soiling crop 

 grown the first season, which breaks down the manure into more 

 available form. The soiling crop is plowed under in the autumn, 

 and the seed or transplant beds formed the following spring. 



At the Fort Bayard nursery soil fertility is maintained by ap- 

 plying well-rotted horse manure at the rate of 25 to 30 tons per 

 acre at intervals of two to four years. Mexican beans are also 

 grown as a soiling crop. At the Monument nursery, after the 

 trees are removed in the spring, a liberal application of well-rotted 

 stable manure is spread over the land and plowed under to a depth 

 of 10 inches. The area is then sown to field peas at the rate of 

 75 pounds per acre. As soon as the peas are in blossom they are 

 plowed under and a second crop sown. This crop is plowed under 



1 Pettis, C. R.: New York forest, fish and game commission. Twelfth 

 annual report, p. 29. Albany, 1907. 



2 Ibid: How to grow and plant conifers in the northeastern states. (U.S. 

 Forest Service, Bui. 76. 1909.) 



3 Bates, C. G. and Pierce, R. G. : Forestation of the sand hills of Nebraska 

 and Kansas. (U. S. Forest Service, Bui. 121, p. 28. 1913.) 



