PROGRESS IN FORESTRY PLANTING I'il 



the ground. The beds are then covered with a slat shade frame about 12 to 

 14 inches above the surface of the bed and the sides are protected with 

 boards. As soon as germination starts the burlap is removed and the ground 

 kept moist. The boards protecting the sides of the beds are also removed soon 

 after germination is complete. 



Where the plants can be developed to sufficient size, say six to seven 

 inches in height the first year, good results can be secured by transplanting to 

 the transplant beds the following spring. Where the plants are left two 

 years in the seed beds a greater loss is experienced in transplanting, to say 

 nothing of the cost of keeping them the extra year in the seed beds. 

 Where the ground has been put in good shape, five men and four boys, using 

 the "trencher" spade and the transplanting boards, can put in from 20 to 24 

 thousand per day, and do it well. 



IMPROVED METHOD OF PLANTING 



As soon as the ground is free from frost in the spring, the field stock 

 is taken up, heeled in, and covered with a layer of coarse hay. The field 

 planting is started just as soon as a gang of men can be secured, and when a 

 sufficient amount of field stock is ready to keep the field gang going. Eight 

 men with six horses, and using the trencher plough, can field plant from 11 

 to 14 thousand trees per day. This method gives a figure per man far in ex- 

 cess of that where the spade or dibble is used and a correspondingly low fig- 

 ure of cost. The results in living trees from the two methods of planting are 

 about equal. 



The question of the protection of these plantations from fire is of first 

 importance. In locating the plantation, the first step has been to develop 

 a complete system of fire guards that will protect the young pines from the 

 fires in the tall coarse grass. These may be started by lightning, through the 

 carelessness of a "nester," or by railroad engine sparks. As the prevailing 

 winds are from west to east, the main guards are from north to south and 

 protect the plantation on the west. On the south and east reasonable pro- 

 tection is assured by the Loupe and Dismal rivers. The main guards are 175 

 feet wide with a ploughed strip one rod wide on the outer edges. 



During the early winter, a time when the winds are not bad, particularly 

 at night, the grass between the ploughed strips is burned off. It takes two 

 years after such a burning for the grass to become sufficiently thick to burn 

 again. In addition to four main guards, which are about one mile apart, there 

 are cross guards running east and west that divide the plantation into com- 

 paratively small blocks and thereby give ample means of checking or con- 

 fining a fire that may start within the plantation proper. These cross guards 

 are single ploughed areas one rod in width. Owing to the fineness of the 

 sandy soil the guards can practically be made permanent by disking the first 

 and second years after ploughing, to destroy the sod and weed growth. After 

 this sod is destroyed the soil drifts and the guards become "blowouts" that 

 require very little cultivation. 

 As the plantation becomes larger the guard system will be extended ac- 



