a thick mixture of red lead and water if birds or mice are likely to 

 be troublesome. One-year-old plants can be grown for less than $1 

 a thousand. 



Planting. Seedlings should be planted in the permanent site 

 during March or the first part of April, earlier in the South than 

 farther north. The roots must be carefully protected from the sun 

 and wind during planting, since the plants die if the roots become 

 at all dry. A spacing of 6 by 6 feet is usually recommended, but on 

 fertile soil 7 by 7 feet may be used. A plantation requires no cultiva- 

 tion. On account of the rapid growth of loblolly pine, hardwoods can 

 not be planted profitably with it. The cost of planting should be about 

 $4 a thousand, or $4.80 an acre, if a spacing of 6 by 6 ieet is used. 



Direct seeding. On ground prepared by harrowing, direct seeding 

 can be done by broadcasting from 2 to 3 pounds of seed per acre and 

 harrowing it in. The cost of such seeding will vary from $6 to $8.50 

 an acre, according to the price of seed. Grassy land can be harrowed 

 until the mineral soil is well exposed and then planted by broadcast- 

 ing and the seed covered by reharrow T ing. Sowing and broadcasting 

 without preparing the soil or covering is not successful. Seed-spot 

 planting can be made on unprepared ground and is cheaper, and 

 probably equally as successful as broadcast sowing. In seed-spot 

 planting the soil should be loosened over an area 6 or 8 inches square, 

 and 10 or 15 seeds planted and covered not deeper than one-half inch. 

 Seed spots should be spaced 6 by 6 feet. When the seedlings are 

 1 year old it is often desirable to pull up all except one of the largest 

 plants from each spot. 



Care of plantation. It is not best to prune live branches, but dead 

 branches should be removed when possible by breaking them off close 

 to the trunk. When a stand is 15 or 20 years old it can be thinned 

 of the smaller, the crooked, and the forked trees if the wood removed 

 in the thinning can be used, and light thinnings can be repeated 

 afterwards at intervals of five years or more. On account of the dan- 

 ger of insect depredations, such thinnings should be made in the 

 winter, since insects breed most abundantly in the wood of trees cut 

 in the spring and summer and spread to live trees. Any tree infected 

 by insects should be removed at once. 



For ten or twelve years fire must be kept out of the stands. Older 

 stands are seldom damaged by winter fires, but early spring fires, fed - 

 by a large amount of dry undergrowth, may be very destructive. 



Approved. 



W. M. HAYS, 



Acting Secretary of Agriculture. 



WASHINGTON, D. C., July 16, 1910. 



[Cir. 183] 



