ON THE MURMAN COAST 



150 



storehouses as large quantities of war supplies were still 

 stored here. Some of the foreign troops and many of 

 the native Russians were living in railroad cars. 



At Murmansk, Kola Inlet is one and one-half miles 

 wide, 32 feet deep near 

 the docks and 70 feet 

 deep in the middle, 

 with a tide of eleven 

 feet. On both sides of 

 the Inlet the hills rise 

 300 to 400 feet above 

 the water and are so 

 located that not only 

 do they protect the 

 harbor from storms 

 but also from sub- 

 marines. Due to the 

 curved shores and the 

 currents a submarine 

 is compelled to come 

 to the surface several 

 times in approaching the 



A GROUP OF OFFICERS 

 British and American Army and Navy officers on board the U. S. S. Galveston. 



harbor and thus could be readily fired on from guns 

 located on either side of the narrow channel. After 

 spending some time at Murmansk we trans-shipped to a 

 Russian ship, the "Kanada," and set out for Archangel. 



The "Kanada" was an 

 ice-breaker, of fine 

 construction, and was 

 originally built for use 

 on the St. Lawrence 

 River, for Earl Grey 

 while he was Governor- 

 General of Canada. 

 Later it was sold to 

 the Russian Govern- 

 ment and rechristened 

 the "Kanada." Thus 

 ended for the winter 

 a brief but intense- 

 ly interesting stay on 

 the Murman Coast, 

 well inside the Arctic 

 Circle. 



STARTING TREES FROM SEED 



"DERHAPS the cheapest and frequently the best way to 

 *- start a forest plantation is to collect seed from 

 hardwood trees and grow seedlings. The collected seed 

 will be fresh and the seedlings grown from it should be 

 thoroughly acclimated so far as climate is concerned, 

 say the forest specialists of the Department of Agri- 

 culture. 



Seed should not be collected before they are ripe, and 

 this means for most kinds of seed that the work should 

 be done during autumn, usually after frost. Collecting 

 may be extended into the winter for such species as ash, 

 catalpa, honey locust, sycamore, and others which retain 

 the seed on the trees until that time. A few varieties 

 of seed, such as elm, silver maple, red maple, willow 

 and poplar ripen during the spring or summer and 

 should be gathered promptly before they are scattered. 



Middle-aged trees growing in the open, where they 

 have been permitted to develop broad, spreading crowns, 

 ordinarily produce seed in greater abundance than trees 

 growing in a dense forest. The fruit of some hardwood 

 requires special treatment to separate the seed from 

 the fleshy covering, pod or hull before they are planted. 



The best time to sow seed, either in the nursery or in 

 the permanent planting site, is soon after it is ripe, but 

 when this is not possible the seed must be stored until 



spring. If this is done, the seed must not be allowed 

 to dry out excessively, because this impairs its power 

 to germinate. Seed should be stored in a cold place. 



When the seed are to be planted, a good, well-drained, 

 preferably loamy soil should be selected. Proximity to 

 the farm dwelling is desirable, because rodents are less 

 likely to be abundant. Preparation of the seed bed should 

 be similar to that of getting the soil ready for a vegetable 

 crop. Except on commercial plantings where the seed 

 are sometimes sown broadcast, it is best to plant with a 

 drill in rows sufficiently far apart to permit horse culti- 

 vation. With small, or thin seeds, such as that of biroh, 

 elm, or sycamore, best results will be obtained by sowing 

 broadcast rather thickly over the beds, pressing the seed 

 into the loose soil with a board and covering it very 

 lightly with soil and a light mulch of leaves or straw. 

 When the seedlings are 10 or more inches in height, 

 they are large enough to be transplanted to the field. 

 Most of them reach this size in one growing season. In 

 digging them, care should be taken to injure the roots 

 as little as possible. Injuried portions of the roots should 

 be cut of with a sharp knife. The seedlings should not 

 be dug until the time for planting them in their perma- 

 nent location, for exposure of the roots to the air for 

 any length of time will kill them. 



A VISITOR back from a short trip to Southern 

 ^*- California says that the mountains in that region 

 show the activities of the Forest Service everywhere 

 you go. Along all the trails are innumerable familiar 

 looking signs and fire lines, sign boards, etc., which 

 show the activity of the Rangers in that region even 

 though they themselves kept well hidden in some distant 

 Ranger Station. 



rpHE monthly meeting of foresters located in and near 

 -*- New York, at the Yale Club for luncheon, to which 

 all visiting foresters are cordially invited, as announced 

 on page 38 of the January issue of American Forestry, 

 will be held in future on the first Tuesday of each month 

 instead of the first Thursday. The last meeting was 

 attended by Messrs. Sterling, Baker, Murchie, Cronk, 

 Moore, Rothery, Porter and Nelson Brown. 



