for small material, white pine will prove the most profitable conifer 

 that can be grown on poor soils. 



Within its range of economic planting white pine forms a very sat- 

 isfactory windbreak or shelterbelt. 



METHODS OF PROPAGATION. 



White pine reproduces only from seed. Plantations should be 

 started from nursery-grown stock rather than from seed, which usu- 

 ally gives unsatisfactory results. 



If only a few hundred plants are desired, it usually is cheaper and 

 easier to buy them from a nurseryman than to raise them, but if sev* 

 eral thousand plants are needed it \vill be cheaper to raise them from 

 seed. Purchased stock should be secured in the early spring before 

 planting time, and upon receipt should be unpacked immediately and 

 the roots dipped into a bucket containing thin mud. The trees 

 should then be heeled-in in a shady place to await planting time, care 

 being taken that the foliage does not become covered. 



If the trees are to be grown in a home nursery, the seed may be pur- 

 chased, but a large saving may be made by collecting it in the neigh- 

 borhood, if this can be done. Cones should be gathered during the 

 latter part of August or in September, before they begin to open. 

 They may be picked from standing trees, or from felled trees if lum- 

 bering operations are being conducted nearby. When gathered, the 

 cones should be spread out on a sheet or floor, where they will be 

 exposed to the sun, yet protected from wind and rain. Within a 

 week they will open and allow the seed to drop out. A thorough stir- 

 ring will separate the seed ; after which the cones may be raked away. 

 One bushel of cones will yield from one-half a pound to 1 pound 

 of clean seed, which will average from 29.000 to 30,000 seeds per 

 pound. Seeds may be stored over winter by placing in small sacks 

 and hanging the sacks in a cold, dry place. 



The most successful method of raising seedlings is by sowing the 

 seed in nursery beds. Seed beds should be composed of fine, loose, 

 fairly fertile soil, moderately moist but always well drained. The 

 soil must not be too rich; otherwise the seedlings will suffer when 

 transplanted to the less favorable conditions of the permanent site. 



A convenient size for seed beds is 4 by 12 feet, with a path about 

 18 inches wide between the beds, so that the plants can be weeded and 

 cared for with ease. The seed should be sown in drills, 4 to 6 inches 

 apart, and lightly covered with fine earth. Sowing should not begin 

 until the ground is warm enough to cause rapid germination. Seed 

 may be safely sown at the time garden vegetables are planted. After 

 a seed bed is sown the surface should be " firmed " with a board or 

 light roller. 



[Cir. 67] 



