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FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION 



September 



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RESERVE BUILDING, DISMAL RIVER FOREST RESERVE, NEBRASKA 



two men were sent into the forests of 

 Michigan and Minnesota to collect Jack 

 Pine (Pinus divaricata} seed. A large 

 quantity of Red Cedar seed was gath- 

 ered along the Platte River, in western 

 Nebraska. It was late in the season 

 before the seed was received at the re- 

 serve headquarters, and we succeeded 

 in planting only five of the seed-beds 

 before winter set in. 



With the opening of spring seed 

 planting was resumed, the remainder of 

 the original half- acre block was planted, 

 and another half acre was prepared in a 

 similar manner to the first, and this was 

 also planted in pine seed. 



As to the kind of seed that is doing 

 the best with us, I believe that I can 

 safely say that the seedlings from the 

 fall-planted Bull Pine seed are much 

 ahead of any of the others. The trees 



are larger and have 

 withstood the attacks 

 of fungus diseases 

 more successfully than 

 any of the spring plant- 

 ing. Some of the seed 



Kthat we planted failed 

 to germinate ; other 

 species germinated 

 only a small per cent 

 and came up so slowly 

 that they were quite 

 provoking. The Jack 

 Pine seed, which is 

 very small, germi- 

 nated readily, but be- 

 cause of the extreme 

 tenderness of the little 

 trees this species suf- 

 fered a heavy loss by 

 damping off. How- 

 ever, there are yet 

 enough surviving 

 plants to make a fair 

 stand. Itisaltogether 

 probable that fall- 

 planted Jack Pine seed 

 will produce seedlings 

 that will withstand 

 damping off fully as 

 well as the Bull Pine 

 have done. Damping 

 off is a fungus dis- 

 ease which is common 

 during warm, moist 

 weather, and it attacks the trees during 

 the very early stages of their growth. 



This season marks the beginning of 

 the work on the Niobrara Reserve, which 

 contains 126,000 acres, lying between 

 the Niobrara and Snake rivers, in Cherry 

 county. We have at present a party 

 of six men surveying the boundaries 

 and making a thorough study of the 

 woody species found growing there and 

 of the conditions under which they are 

 growing. In my trip across the reserve 

 last week with Professor Emerson and 

 Mr. Mast we were highly pleased to 

 find the conditions there so favorable to 

 our work. The reproduction of the 

 Red Cedar and the Pine along the 

 rivers, creeks, and canyons is splendid, 

 and we found some comparatively young 

 trees growing out in the hills. The 

 rank growth of grass now covering the 



