THE FORMATION OF FORESTS 115 
scratch the seed into the ground with a harrow or 
rake. 
Willow and poplar seed will sprout within ten 
days; white pine and spruce within four weeks, and 
oak, walnut, beech, and maple within six weeks. Some 
seeds will not germinate until the end of the second 
year. In such cases it is better to bed the seeds in 
layers, in a box or barrel, in leaf-mold, for one year, 
and then sow them the second spring. 
In order to have success in broadcast sowing, the 
conditions must be very favorable. In southwestern 
France the sand is covered with brush, and the seed of 
the maritime pine is sown among it. The seed 
sprouts, and a forest forms without further effort. 
The species is an unusually hardy one. In the ma- 
jority of cases it is necessary to prepare the soil and 
cover the seed. 
In some instances it is sufficient to wound or 
scratch the soil with a rake or harrow; in others, a 
grub-hoe may be necessary, and in still others, the 
plow. Tree seed should be sown thinner than wheat. 
It is a good plan to mix it with dirt and sow both 
ways in order to get it evenly distributed over the 
soil. After sowing, it should be raked or harrowed 
into the soil. Sheep have been used to advantage to ° 
trample it in. 
Partial sowing is sometimes practised—that is, 
