24 



FORESTATION, SAND HILLS NEBRASKA AND KANSAS. 



the adjoining uplands. 1 It works rather stiff, is difficult to put in 

 good tilth, and bakes after irrigating. Nevertheless, it is probably 

 the richest soil in the entire Arkansas Valley. 



In preparing this ground for the seed of hardwood trees, of which 

 black and honey locusts, osage orange, ash, catalpa, walnut, and 

 cottonwood have been the principal species, it is first plowed very 

 deep and harrowed, then leveled, then marked for rows. Drills 

 about 4 inches deep are then gouged out and run full of water, which 

 is allowed to soak the soil for about one day before seed is sown. 

 After the sowing the drill is filled with 1 to 2 inches of soil, depending 

 on the size of the seed, and as soon as possible the soil is cultivated. 

 One or more irrigations may be necessary before the seed germinates, 

 but the soil is retentive of moisture if properly cultivated, and, 

 usually, water has been applied only a few times during a season. 



While the rows are 30 inches apart to permit the use of a 1-horse 

 cultivator, there are from 1 to 15 trees per linear foot in the row. 

 They develop very rapidly, and, in the fall of 1911, were mostly 

 taken up, pruned, and heeled in for the 1912 planting. This practice 

 permits the earliest possible planting when the ground thaws in the 

 spring. 



The size of seedlings of various species after one year, is as follows : 



Inches. 



Black locust 27 



Honey locust 16 



Green ash 7 



Box elder... 24 



Inches. 



Osage orange 20 



Catalpa 16 



Black walnut.. 10 



Because the soil is so heavy it is necessary, in preparing for conifers, 

 to introduce some sand and to raise the beds above the surrounding 

 ground to facilitate drainage. At first, watering was done by sprink- 

 ling and surface irrigation, but in 1911 a system of subirrigation, 

 using concrete tiles, was successfully introduced. A line of tile 

 waters two lines of beds, each 4 feet wide. The water supply is 

 obtained at no great depth and is pumped by windmill and gasoline 

 engine into a storage basin. 



It has also been necessary, in order to protect from birds and 

 , rodents, to use Pettis 2 frames very largely. These are simply wooden 



1 Mechanical analysis of soil of same character, obtained just east of Garden City, showed the following 

 proportions of different-sized particles : 



* See Forest Service Bulletin No. 76, "How to Grow and Plant Conifers in the Northeastern States," by 

 C. R. Pettis. 



