138 Canadian Forestry Journal. 



$8l. One (if ihc worst fires was started from a railway o])eratc(l 

 by a luiiiIxT companv and resulted in a loss to the conipanv of 

 $5,000. 



In reforestation work a hardwood plantation of some 70 

 acres was set out consisting of red and pin oak, chestnnt, blacK 

 locust and black walnut. The seedlings were planted seven feet 

 each way instead ci four feet as is usual with conifers. The 

 scattering- of the seeds of coniferous trees was also tried and the 

 question is one of so much importance that the paragraphs in re- 

 gard to it are worthy of quotation in full : — 



" Another tract was sown with white pine by the seed-spot 

 method. The land selected for this purpose is in Essex County, 

 near the highway running from Lower Saranac Lake to Lake 

 Placid. The growth on this site was so uneven, rough, and over- 

 grown with scrubby brush that the planting of seedlings at regu- 

 lar intervals was not practicable. The seed-spot method consists 

 in breaking up the ground in small circular spots, about two feet 

 wide, and at intervals of eight feet each wa}-, or as near that as 

 the obstacles will permit. A few seeds, ten or twelve, are scatter- 

 ed on the' freshly turned ground and lightly covered with earth. 

 When the seedlings thus propagated are two years old they are 

 taken up, with the exception of one which is allowed to remain ; 

 the. others, so far as needed, are set out immediately in the inter- 

 vening spaces close at hand, forming thereby a plantation \\'itli 

 intervals of four feet each way between the plants. The seed- 

 spot method, owing toi its smaller expense, is used also on smooth, 

 level ground, in which case the patches are made at the smaller 

 intervals on the start, thus saving any subsequent transplanting 

 into the spaces. 



" Another small tract near the Lake Placid road was sown 

 with white pine seed, scattered broadcast. This method is also 

 preferable on grcimd where seedlings cannot be set out with 

 advantage, and furthermore, it is the cheapest w^ay to reforest de- 

 nuded lands. But it has its disadvantages as well ; the seeds are 

 often eaten by birds or rodents ; and, under the most favourable 

 circumstances, the germination is ver}^ apt to be uneven, the 

 sprouts coming up thickly in some places, and scarcely at all in 

 others. 



