1913.1 PUBLIC DOCUMENT — No. 31. 31 



DEVICE FOR PLANTING WHITE PINE SEED. 



G. E. STONE. 



A few years ago the writer had occasion to phant some white 

 pine seed in sod land, and the simple apparatus shouTi in Fig. 

 1 was devised for the purpose. It consists of a hollow iron tube 

 about % of an inch in diameter, to the bottom of which is at- 

 tached a bent piece of strap iron about 1% inches in width 

 and thick enough to give the required rigidity. This is sharp- 

 ened at one end like a chisel, and the iron handle extends to the 

 bent part of the piece of iron. To the lower end of the hollow 

 handle is attached a rubber tube which extends within a few 

 inches of the end of the flat blade. 



In using this device, which is designed to plant the seed 

 easily and quickly, the chisel end or blade is thrust into the 

 ground at such an angle that a slice of sod seldom more than 

 % of an inch in thickness is raised. The planter is then 

 brought to a vertical position and three or four seeds dropped 

 into the funnel at the top. The seeds fall underneath the thin 

 layer of sod, and then the instrument is taken out and the sod 

 pushed back to cover the seed. This planter has been used 

 to some extent in its original form by various persons, and no 

 attempt has been made to improve upon it as yet. It operates 

 easily, however, and does away with the stooping over required 

 by the ordinary methods in use. 



The general opinion among foresters is that it does not pay 

 to plant white pine seed, and that much better results can be 

 obtained from seedlings. It costs much less to plant seed, 

 however, and it should be remembered that the great bulk of 

 the white pine which has been growing in the State for cen- 

 turies started from seed. It should also be pointed out that 

 the New England States are unusually well adapted for the 

 growing of white pine, and most of our waste land would soon 



