ESTABLISHING FORESTS BY DIRECT SEEDING 219 



spaced intervals, but sometimes two or more seeds are sown to- 

 gether at more widely spaced intervals. 



The following are the chief advantages from seeding in furrows : 

 a. Hand labor is not required in preparing the soil for seeding. 

 6. Only from one-fourth to one-sixth of the total area is worked. 



c. A comparatively small amount of seed is required. 



d. The seed can be placed at varying positions in the furrow, 

 depending upon the conditions for germination. 



The disadvantages from seeding in furrows are: 



a. The narrowness of the furrow often permits the vegetation 

 to crowd in from the sides and overtop the young seedlings. 



6. The surface soil turned under in furrowing exposes the 

 poorest soil, in which the seed is sown. 



Where a rank growth of weeds or other surface vegetation at 

 either side of the furrow is sufficiently tall and dense to smother 

 or seriously retard the growth of the young plants, it should be 

 periodically removed during the first two years following the 

 seeding. 



On overwet sites two furrows may be thrown together forming 

 a "blind furrow" and the seed sown on the ridge. The depres- 

 sions at either side serve to carry off the excess water. The chief 

 danger in sowing on ridges formed in this manner is from the 

 vegetation turned under. This danger can be overcome by mak- 

 ing the furrows from 6 to 9 months before the seeding. The 

 furrows should parallel each other and follow the direction of the 

 contour lines on sloping ground. 



Thorough preparation of the soil is usually required in sowing 

 conifers and small-seeded, broadleaved species in lines. In Euro- 

 pean practice the soil is worked in lines from 3 to 5 feet apart. 

 The cultivated lines are from 12 to 18 inches wide and worked 

 to a depth of from 4 to 12 inches. The lines are broken by horse 

 power or by hand labor in the autumn preceding the regeneration. 

 They are reworked by hand in the spring and all roots and sods 

 removed, after which the seed is sown in a single drill either by 

 hand or with a machine which sows and covers it in the same 

 operation. Line seeding of conifers has not been attempted in the 

 United States. It is the most successful method of direct seeding 

 in Germany. 



12. THE COST OF STRIP AND LINE SEEDING. The cost of 

 strip and line seeding is largely determined by the expense in- 



