162 



Ganadian Forestry Journal, November-December, 1912. 



will be attempted, chiefly for experi- 

 ment. At present the Forest Service 

 maintains seven large nurseries, with 

 an annual capacity of from one to 

 four million plants in addition to 

 twenty-two small nurseries, and there 

 are now 35,000,000 plants on hand for 

 use during the next two years. 



The policy of maintaining large 

 nurseries rather than small ones has 

 been pretty generally adopted, not- 

 withstanding the shipping cost and 

 the danger of the stock drying out 

 in transit. A few years ago a large 

 nmnber of so-called ranger nurseries 

 were established on almost every for- 

 est, but this proved expensive and 

 unsatisfactory. ]\Iany of the rangers 

 wasted time on their nursery work 

 and it seriously interfered with their 

 regular executive duties. The trans- 

 plants in the past have averaged from 

 $8.00 to $12.00 in cost per thousand, 

 but it is hoped in the future that 

 two-year-old seedlings (conifers) can 

 be raised at 75c per thousand, and 

 two-year-old stock once transplanted 

 for $1.75 a thousand. 



Seedlings will be used only in the 

 more favorable sites, and two-year- 

 old stock, once transplanted, and oc- 

 casionally three-year-old stock, once 

 transplanted; or three-year-old stock, 

 twice transplanted, on the more un- 

 favorable situations. Yet it must be 

 borne in mind that even planting 

 will be confined to situations where 

 there are excellent chances for suc- 

 cess. For example, the Forest Ser- 

 vice would not attempt to reforest 

 a dry southern slope until the cool 

 moist northern slopes had been 

 planted. The chief species to ])e used 

 in planting are yellow pine, Douglas 

 fir. lodgepole pine, sugar pine, Engel- 

 manii s]iniee. with some eucalyptus 

 and a number of other species for 

 purely experimental purposes. The 

 ordinary spacing is 6 feet x 6 feet. 

 In the past plantations have cost, in- 

 cluding nursery stock, $20.00 to 

 $22.00 per acre ; in the future it is 

 hoped that this cost can be reduced 

 to from $8.00 to $12.00 an acre. 



The national forests which are situ- 

 ated in the western United States 

 liave been divided roughly into six 

 administrative districts. They are as 

 follows : 



1. Montana, northeastern Washing- 

 ton, northern Idaho, northwestern 

 South Dakota, northern Michigan, 

 northern Minnesota, and southwestern 

 North Dakota; 



2. Colorado, Wyoming, South Da- 

 kota, Nebraska, and western Kansas : 



3. Arizona, New Mexico, Okla- 

 homa, Arkansas and Florida ; 



4. Utah, southern Idaho, western 

 Wyoming, eastern and central Ne- 

 vada, and northwestern Arizona ; 



5. California ; 



6. Washington, Oregon and Alas- 

 ka . 



This wide diversity of conditions 

 naturally presents an enormous num- 

 ber of reforestation problems. At 

 present, most of the reforestation is 

 to be confined to the northern dis- 

 tricts, namely, 1, 2, 4 and 6. In dis- 

 tricts 3 and 5 the work will be chiefly 

 experimental. The present budget 

 calls for the reforestation of 30,000 

 acres annually; 1,000 acres in the two 

 southernmost districts (3 and 5), and 

 29.000 in the northern districts. In 

 Washington and Oregon the best re- 

 sults are expected from Douglas fir 

 sown in seed spots; and in district 

 one from yellow pine sown in seed 

 spots. In Southern California the at- 

 tempt to replace chaparral with a 

 valuable timber species has been un- 

 successful, ai^d in the future the re- 

 forestation will be confined to higher 

 elevations. The results from eucalyp- 

 tus plantations in Southern Califor- 

 nia have been very poor, and the only 

 results that promise success have been 

 with seedlings in pots 2 in. x 2 in. x 

 S in., so that they could be planted 

 without disturbing the root system. 



In Florida, maritime pine promises 

 to be successful, and the species yields 

 a larger quantity of resin that long- 

 leaf pine and grows much more ra- 

 pidly. 



Continued Oil page 16^. 



