THE FOREST NURSERY 91 



As soon as the ground becomes dry enough in the spring 

 the beds should be spaded or otherwise worked to a depth 

 of a few inches, but not deep enough to bring to the sur- 

 face any manure filled with weed seeds that may have been 

 applied in the fall. All stones and sticks must be removed 

 and any lumps of manure, sods, or compact soil should be 

 thoroughly pulverized or raked off. A small-tined potato 

 hook or a long-toothed garden rake can be used for this 

 purpose. The surface of the bed must be finely pulverized 

 and smoothed and the centre made an inch, or a trifle more, 

 higher than the edges just enough to carry off the 'sur- 

 plus water that may fall in time of excessive rains. 



For proof of the advisability of ploughing or spading in 

 the late fall and not in the spring, it may be stated that 

 many farmers follow fall ploughing for sowing oats, bar- 

 ley, and spring wheat, and with good results, only harrow- 

 ing or lightly cultivating the surface before sowing. Of 

 course this system applies only to those portions of the 

 country where the frost goes down from six to ten or more 

 inches in depth. The object is to take advantage of the 

 friable condition of the soil which is brought about by 

 freezing, and the additional advantage of early sowing. 

 This latter is of more importance than it at first may ap- 

 pear. In early spring the soil is invariably moist at the 

 bottom, and yet it may be dry enough on the very sur- 

 face to sow seeds in, and if not ploughed or spaded will 

 retain that moisture for some time, thus aiding in early 

 germination. Instances can be given where early sowing 

 of tree seeds was eminently successful, while those sown ten 

 days later in an adjacent bed resulted in almost complete 

 failure. There is no doubt but that fall planting of the 

 seeds of many of our timber trees would be best were the 

 seeds not liable to be destroyed by birds, mice, or squirrels. 

 It is the natural method. Nature sows nearly all the seeds 

 which she brings forth as soon as they are ripe. Spring 

 ploughing or spading must be resorted to if that work has 

 not been done late in the fall or frost has not pulverized 



