52 PRACTICAL PLANT PROPAGATION 



into direct contact with the soil. The seed is now ready to be 

 covered. The usual rule in planting conifer seed is to put the 

 covering on twice the diameter of the seed. This operation we used 

 to do by hand, using clear sand, the men taking it from pails and 

 putting it on the beds. We now make use of a specially constructed 

 machine, which is drawn from one end of the bed to the other by 

 horses, sprinkling the sand evenly to the desired thickness. 



In Europe the surface of the seed beds is left rounding, but I 

 have found that when this is done germination is greatly retarded 

 along the edges of the bed, therefore I use only the flat surface 

 system. Moreover, the lath shades which are sued for covering fit 

 more closely and evenly over the surface when it is flat. 



SHADE FOR THE SEEDLINGS 



After the seeds are sown, rolled, and the beds covered with sand, 

 the lath shades are placed over the beds. These shades are four feet 

 square, and the laths are nailed to two-inch cleats, leaving space 

 enough between each two laths to allow another lath to be laid 

 without nailing; thus when the rack is lying flat on the ground 

 with the loose laths hi place, it completely covers the newly planted 

 seeds with a little wood roof. 



It is important and necessary that these racks be placed over 

 the seeds as soon as planted. It is a strange fact, but nevertheless 

 true, that germination takes place more rapidly and more evenly in 

 total darkness beneath the rack than when the same seed planted 

 under the same conditions is allowed the full light of the sun. This 

 lath covering also acts as a roof to keep the pelting rains from dis- 

 turbing the surface of the newly made beds. If all goes well, the 

 seed of most conifers will start to germinate in the Spring, in from 

 one to three weeks. The little seedlings push through the soil, 

 growing up toward the light The lath shade is now raised one inch 

 above the surface of the ground and left in this position until all of 

 the seedlings have grown high enough to touch the lath. The 

 shades are then raised to a height of ten inches, and placed on pegs 

 driven into the ground. Most varieties of conifers now demand a 

 little more sunlight. It is therefore necessary to go over the beds 

 and remove the unnailed laths. The seedlings are now protected 

 from the sun and driving rain by a four-foot rack shade, with the 

 laths nailed one and a half inches apart. This gives the seedlings 

 what is known as a shifting shade; the shade moves as the sun 

 travels across the sky. 



