SPRING SEEDING OPERATION 



355 



tively fresh, and drains southward into 

 Crab Creek which, after flowing for a 

 while at the surface, sinks into the soil 

 and disappears. 



In the Grand Coulee near Coulee City 

 are several fruit farms of young trees 

 which are doing nicely. Water for irri- 

 gation is obtained either from springs, 

 which are often tapped within a few 

 feet of the surface, or pumped from 

 some of the fresh lakes which are suit- 

 ably situated. In the oldest orchard the 

 trees are about six years old and are 

 just beginning to bear. This orchard is 

 situated about a mile and a half north 

 of the town and is well worth a visit. 

 Here apple and peach trees alternate in 

 the rows, but the peach trees will 

 eventually be cut down, when the apple 

 trees become large enough. In between 

 the trees the owner raises great quanti- 

 ties of fine watermelons which are 

 shared and greatly appreciated by the 

 inhabitants of the Coulee. He is also 



raising corn- fed hogs for market in 

 Spokane and for shipment farther east. 

 All of the farms about the Coulee have 

 small vegetable gardens where suffi- 

 cient for home consumption is pro- 

 duced. The interest of most of the peo- 

 ple living near Coulee City is in wheat, 

 and the future of this section seems to 

 rest upon the successful cultivation of 

 that staple product, which can be grown 

 over most of the plains to the east of the 

 Grand Coulee. The higher parts have a 

 good soil cover of decomposed lava and 

 more or less rain throughout the year, 

 so that this region is now producing a 

 considerable quantity of wheat raised 

 by dry farming methods. A crop of 

 20-25 bushels per acre is about the aver- 

 age yield, but 40 bushels per acre is 

 occasionally reached. The production of 

 fruit and other special crops upon the 

 small areas that are favorably situated 

 for irrigation will undoubtedly increase, 

 but will always be of minor importance. 



SPRING SEEDING OPERATION 



ATIVE preparations for further 

 reseeding of the Roubaix burn in 

 South Dakota are being made 

 by Forest Supervisor Kelleter. 

 Approximately 1,000 acres will be re- 

 seeded this spring and to properly 

 handle this work a Forest Service camp 

 will be established on the ground. Dur- 

 ing past seasons the work was handled 

 from Roubaix and the laborers em- 

 ployed were for the most part such as 

 lived at Roubaix, but this season's work 

 will be a considerable distance east of 

 Roubaix and the establishment of a 

 camp therefore becomes necessary. 



A total of 6,000 acres have already 

 been reseeded at Roubaix and a good 

 stand of trees are to be found over the 

 entire area. This work was inaugu- 

 rated in 1905 and has been continued 

 each year since. Except for the dry 

 seasons of 1910 and 1911, the work has 

 each year been successful. Native yel- 

 low pine seed is used. Experiments 



have shown that the best results are ob- 

 tained by using this species. An ex- 

 tensive experiment was made with Aus- 

 trian pine, but the results did not seem 

 to justify further use. 



What is known as the "seed spot" 

 method is used in all this work. This 

 consists in the removal, by use of a mat- 

 tock, of the top grass, or sod, for the 

 space of about 12 inches square to ex- 

 pose the mineral soil, and the dropping 

 of a few seeds into the spot and then 

 gently covering the seed with some of 

 the loose soil. By clearing away the sod 

 the young seedling, on sprouting, has a 

 fair chance of pulling through as there 

 is no competition for light and moisture 

 with the grass, as would be the case 

 were the same not removed. Under 

 normal conditions a seed will germinate 

 or sprout and show signs of life in about 

 three weeks after being placed in the 

 soil. 



