140 



rowing or scalping, ashes should be 

 raked or brushed aside before sowing. 

 Fresh ashes in contact with the seed 

 have been found to inhibit root growth 

 and may cause many seedlings to fail 

 immediately after germination. 



Rates of sowing should be governed 

 by percentages of viable seed, which 

 for most tree seed runs far below 100 

 percent. On large operations that in- 

 volve considerable investment, seed 

 quality should be ascertained by germi- 

 nation tests. For the small operator 

 such tests often are inconvenient to 

 make, especially with the species whose 

 seed require cold stratification. A 

 reasonably dependable substitute is to 

 determine the percentage of soundness 

 by cutting each seed in a sample with 

 a knife or mashing with a hammer. 



For the sowing operation, the fast- 

 est and cheapest hand method on clean 

 ground or after furrowing is to use a 

 garden-type mechanical seeder, which 

 a man can push along without undue 

 effort. Relatively small-seeded spe- 

 cies like pines should be sown to aver- 

 age two to three sound seeds to the 

 lineal foot of row. Covering may be 

 done by use of the shoe attachment 

 furnished with most seeders, or by a 

 brush drag drawn along the furrow 

 after the seed are dropped. With fall 

 sowing in furrows, covering often is 

 not necessary, as the seed will be cov- 

 ered anyhow by rain and frost action. 

 However, immediate covering may be 

 of some value in concealing the seed 

 from birds and rodents. Guard care- 

 fully against excessive coverage; small 

 seeds, like pine and spruce, should not 

 be planted more than a quarter inch 

 deep. 



In the spot seeding of small seeds, 

 sow about 10 sound ones on a spot. 

 Covering may be accomplished by light 

 raking or, better, by sowing in two or 

 three little trenches made with the fin- 

 ger, a pointed stick, or any convenient 

 small tool. Fill the trenches level over 

 the seeds with soil and firm gently with 

 the hand or foot. 



Recently a tool has been designed 

 for spot seeding consisting of a blade 



Yearbook of Agriculture 1949 



for scarifying the soil, a seed chamber, 

 and a spring mechanism which can be 

 adjusted to deliver a definite amount 

 of seed. On areas requiring little or 

 no preparation of the spots, it is re- 

 ported that one man with this tool can 

 seed 2 to 3 acres a day. The tool is 

 not at present available on the market, 

 but construction is fairly simple. Speci- 

 fications can be obtained from the 

 Oregon State Department of Forestry, 

 at Salem. 



Though application of supplemen- 

 tal treatments means more labor time 

 and shrinkage or elimination of any 

 cost differential in favor of seeding, 

 extra treatments or refinements in tech- 

 nique are in some situations almost 

 prerequisite to success. Mulching, for 

 instance, will markedly increase the 

 amount of successful germination in 

 regions such as the southern Piedmont, 

 where hot, dry conditions often develop 

 during the early spring. Especially on 

 the heavy soils that have little natural 

 cover to shade the surface and retard 

 drying, mulch is practically a require- 

 ment in that region. On such sites, 

 mulch also greatly reduces losses from 

 frost heaving. Costs for mulching vary 

 greatly according to availability of suit- 

 able material. On grassy fields where 

 material can be raked directly into the 

 furrows or on to the seed spots, costs 

 usually will not be prohibitive. Hauling 

 mulch to the seeding site involves 

 greater expense, but may be feasible if 

 pine litter or other material can be 

 picked up easily in the vicinity. Seed 

 should not be covered with soil if mulch 

 is used, as that covers them too deep; 

 when used, the mulch must be spread 

 lightly with all entangled mats and 

 chunks broken apart. Inexperienced 

 labor almost invariably tends to spread 

 mulch too thickly; ideally, it should 

 nowhere exceed one-half inch when 

 settled. 



Another instance of need for special 

 treatment occurs when seeding open- 

 ings among the hardwood trees and 

 sprouts where considerable leaf litter 

 is cast each fall. Experience with spot 

 seeding in situations of this sort at the 



