Direct Seeding of Trees 



ern forest region by similar methods 

 and at about the same relative costs as 

 in those experiments. The approxi- 

 mately 50-percent lower operating 

 costs for seeding appear adequate to 

 compensate for the greater risks in- 

 volved, and indicate that the method 

 might well be more widely used as a 

 supplement to planting. 



Costs for airplane seeding will not 

 mean much until more evidence is 

 available on the degree of success to be 

 expected. If a fair percentage of air- 

 plane seedings do succeed, the cost as- 

 pects of the method are especially at- 

 tractive. The previously cited job in 

 Maine was done for about $3.50 an 

 acre. This figure does not include any 

 rental or depreciation charge for the 

 plane; however, a private concern of- 

 fered to do the flying for 50 cents an 

 acre. The Oregon State Board of 

 Forestry reports costs of $5.13 an acre 

 for their 1946 job, which costs included 

 prepoisoning for rodent control and 

 some snag felling. On the latter job, 

 mixtures of Douglas-fir, Port-Orford- 

 cedar, western hemlock, and Sitka 

 spruce seed were used at the rate of 

 one-half pound an acre. 



Flying costs will be influenced appre- 

 ciably by size and shape of the seeding 

 areas. Situations that permit flight 

 strips of a mile or more will go much 

 faster than those where strips are short- 

 er, thus requiring more time to be 

 spent in turns. Probably the helicopter 

 will prove to be better suited and more 

 economical than the conventional-type 

 planes for working smaller tracts. 



RECOMMENDATIONS: Since direct 

 seeding, even though it has several ad- 

 vantages over planting, has the major 

 drawback of generally being more sub- 

 ject to failure, one may ask where or 

 under what circumstances it can be 

 used to best advantage. 



The statements to follow refer to the 

 tested hand methods or simple machine 

 methods. No recommendations regard- 

 ing airplane seeding are warranted 

 now, except that developments be 

 watched with a critical but open mind. 



802062 49 11 



145 



First, seeding can be advocated in 

 those localities and on those classes of 

 sites where experiments have shown 

 that it has a good chance to succeed. 

 Among these are cut-over and burned 

 moist slopes and benches in the north- 

 ern Rocky Mountain white pine type; 

 the similar areas in the northwestern 

 Douglas-fir region; the low-lying sand 

 plains in the Lake States; the better 

 old-field sites in the East Central States 

 and Atlantic Piedmont ; the better cut- 

 over forest sites in the Missouri Ozarks. 

 Its use might well be extended, on a 

 small scale at first, to other sections or 

 localities having conditions similar to 

 any of the above areas. No curtailment 

 of planting in favor of seeding is pro- 

 posed; rather the planting should be 

 pushed with full vigor during the 

 proper season, but sites deemed suit- 

 able for seeding should be bypassed. 

 Then as conditions permit at other 

 times, seed the selected areas. 



Second, seeding can be advocated on 

 certain classes of sites, notably very 

 stony areas, where good planting is 

 difficult, expensive, or impossible. 



Third, seeding is admirably suited 

 for filling in fail spots in natural repro- 

 duction or plantations and other small 

 or out-of-the-way places that hardly 

 would justify taking in a planting crew. 

 Such places can be seeded during the 

 off season for planting by a few men at 

 relatively small expense. If the seedings 

 are successful, the gain is definitely 

 worth while ; if they fail, little is lost. 



Fourth, seeding can be suggested for 

 special consideration in the establish- 

 ment of any species that is difficult to 

 handle or tends to react unfavorably to 

 the usual nursery and transplanting 

 procedures. For instance, some strong- 

 ly taprooted nut species, like black wal- 

 nut, preferably should be direct seeded 

 where the method is at all feasible. 



Finally, seeding appeals to many 

 farmers for starting or restocking a few 

 acres of wood lot, partly because it can 

 be done intermittently at odd times, 

 partly because many men derive satis- 

 faction in growing their trees from seed 

 of their own collection from a favor- 



