i6o 



PRODUCTION OF PLANTING STOCK 



FLOYD M. COSSITT, C. A. RINDT, HARRY A. GUNNING 



To produce the millions of treelings 

 that are needed for reforestation and 

 for planting on farm woodlands, wild- 

 life areas, stream banks, windbreaks, 

 and erosion-control projects in the 

 United States, nurserymen grow more 

 than 40 coniferous species of trees and 

 shrubs and fifty-odd hardwood species. 

 To get the quality, quantity, and va- 

 riety needed, the growers have to ob- 

 serve most carefully, in exact sequence, 

 a number of well-defined procedures. 

 Their work embraces the attention to 

 detail that the grower of orchids must 

 have, the cycles of seed-time and har- 

 vest that govern the farmer's work, the 

 long view of things that the parent 

 takes in rearing children. Nurserymen 

 must have practical knowledge of a 

 half dozen sciences genetics, botany, 

 entomology, soils, dendrology, pathol- 

 ogy. Patience, too. 



From the time they sow the seed in 

 the nursery until the trees are ready to 

 be shipped to the planting site, the men 

 must care for the seedlings scientifi- 

 cally to make them strong enough to 

 stand the hardships they will encounter 

 in their permanent home. The nursery 

 soil must contain certain plant nutri- 

 ents in the right amounts necessary for 

 healthy growth. The nursery stock 

 must be protected from many diseases, 

 weeds, as well as insects. Gold hardi- 

 ness, shade requirement, tolerance to 

 sun, and other factors must be ob- 

 served. Too much water makes the 

 trees soft and weak; too little retards 

 their growth. Some species must re- 

 main in the nursery as long as 5 years, 

 maybe more, before they are ready to 

 be planted in the field; others are ready 

 in a year. All can better live and popu- 

 late a new forest if they have had prop- 

 er care in the nursery. 



Every State in the United States has 

 some form of planting program that 

 requires nursery stock. The Forest 

 Service operates nurseries to produce 



planting stock for reforestation on na- 

 tional forests and for a few States that 

 have cooperative programs with farm- 

 ers. The Soil Conservation Service has 

 nurseries to produce trees for farms in 

 the organized soil conservation dis- 

 tricts. Other federal agencies, among 

 them the Fish and Wildlife Service, of 

 the Department of the Interior, and the 

 Tennessee Valley Authority, conduct 

 planting programs on land they admin- 

 ister. The State nurseries, which pro~ 

 vide planting stock for use on State- 

 owned land and for use by farmers, are 

 increasing in number and quantity of 

 production. Many private lumber com- 

 panies, paper-pulp companies, and soil 

 conservation districts are establishing 

 nurseries to get stock for their own for- 

 estry programs. Some private individ- 

 uals, too, are finding pleasure and 

 profit in operating small nurseries. 



This discussion deals with large-scale 

 nursery operations, but the man who 

 wants to grow his own stock might find 

 in it many helpful suggestions. 



Nursery-grown trees were planted on 

 181,000 acres in the United States in 

 1947. Approximately 217 million trees 

 were used. To date, in the United 

 States, nearly 6,700,000 acres have 

 been planted with more than 8 billion 

 trees and shrubs that started life in 

 nurseries. 



SELECTING A GOOD SITE is of first im- 

 portance in successful nursery manage- 

 ment. Its topography, location, fertil- 

 ity, soil texture, drainage, and avail- 

 ability of water affect markedly the cost 

 and quality of the stock. One rarely 

 finds an area that has all the desirable 

 features of an ideal nursery site; com- 

 promises usually are necessary, but the 

 extent and number of the exceptions 

 determine the desirability of the site. 



The acreage required depends on 

 the age and the species of trees to be 

 grown. Approximately 1,000,000 coni- 



