92 PRINCIPLES OF AMERICAN FORESTRY. 



thickly in drills eight inches wide and three feet apart, 

 or in narrow drills. Elm seeds should be covered with 

 about one-half inch of soil, Mulberry with about one- 

 fourth inch, and Soft Maple with about one inch. If 

 the weather is dry the soil over the seeds should be well 

 packed, and if the weather continues dry the rows should 

 be watered. Watering, however, is seldom necessary 

 on retentive soil if the soil has been properly packed. 

 With proper conditions seeds so planted will start quickly 

 and grow rapidly; the Elm will grow from six to eighteen 

 inches and the Soft Maple twelve to twenty-four inches 

 high before the first autumn. Such seedlings are large 

 enough for permanent setting in forest plantations or 

 windbreaks. They may be allowed to grow in the seed- 

 bed another year without injury, but should be trans- 

 planted before the growth of the third season begins. 



Seeds of Deciduous Trees that Ripen in Autumn may 

 be sown to advantage in the autumn provided (1) the 

 soil is not of such a nature as to become too solidly packed 

 over them before spring; (2) they are not liable to dry 

 up or wash out; or (3) they are not subject to injuries 

 from rodents, insects, or other animals. In many locations 

 some or all of these possible injuries may make spring 

 sowing most desirable with most kinds of seeds. Our 

 most successful nurserymen, however, prefer to sow in 

 autumn, and to try to bring about the conditions that 

 make it successful. 



In the Matter of Storing Seeds it is difficult to lay down 

 any exact rule to follow, and here, as in all other similar 

 matters, considerable must be left to good judgment. As 

 a rule, however, it is perfectly safe to winter over all of 

 the seeds of hardy plants which ripen in autumn by burying 

 them in sand out of doors. 



Tree Seeds that Ripen in Autumn may be divided 

 into four classes, which require different methods of treat- 



