12 REFORESTATION ON THE NATIONAL FORESTS. 



Sitka spruce is another species especially adapted to the humid 

 coast regions of Washington and Oregon. It is more exacting in its 

 soil and moisture conditions than Douglas fir, but grows almost as 

 rapidly and does well both in pure stands and in mixture with other 

 species. The tree attains large size and produces heavy stands of good 

 timber, but probably will yield slightly less than Douglas fir. The 

 cost of establishing Sitka spruce artificially, however, is compara- 

 tively small, and the money returns will almost equal those from 

 Douglas fir. 



EXPERIMENTS. 



Experiments in reforestation are being conducted by the Forest 

 Service in the field by the regular Forest force and at well-equipped 

 forest experiment stations by specially trained men. The experi- 

 ments are always conducted with the definite object of proving at 

 least one thing conclusively. During the fiscal year 1910 over 800 

 experiments in artificial reforestation were conducted upon the Na- 

 tional Forests, in which 60 species were used. Such questions as 

 how is the vitality of seed influenced by the locality in which col- 

 lected, by altitude, exposure, age, and health of seed trees; under 

 what conditions is the preparation of the ground advantageous in 

 direct seeding ; what is the best method of preparation ; what is the 

 best method of sowing ; how much seed is required ; what is the best 

 method of protecting seed from rodents and birds; and what is the 

 best season of the year for sowing, were wholly or in part solved. 



