THE FOREST NURSERY 95 



hundred plants, which are as many as can be safely grown 

 on one square foot, although a greater number has been 

 frequently produced ; but only in extremely fertile soils and 

 under favorable conditions can so great a number be grown. 

 Probably seed for one hundred and fifty plants to the 

 square foot would be better. Of course smaller seeds will 

 require less weight proportionally. A table showing the 

 number of seeds to the pound of the important species of 

 timber trees will be found in the Appendix, and computa- 

 tion can be made suitable for each one. 



Sowing in Drills. The seed-bed should be as carefully 

 or better prepared for sowing in drills than in the case of 

 broadcast sowing, for any lumps near the surface will greatly 

 interfere with satisfactory work, and especially so if the 

 seeds are to be sown with a seed drill, as then the covering 

 must be that of which the surface of the bed is composed. 

 If sowing by hand be practiced, a marking-board as wide 

 as the rows are to be apart, and long enough to reach across 

 the bed, must be provided. For conifers strips three eighths 

 of an inch thick, with one edge V-shaped, should be nailed 

 on each edge, the V-edge to project three eighths of an 

 inch below the surface of the board. The other edge can 

 be flush with the top of the board. A handle similar to an 

 old-fashioned door-handle can be fastened on the top of the 

 marker, and if the board is light one person can readily 

 operate it. 



To mark for the rows place the marking-board squarely 

 across the bed, with the V-projections downward, and press 

 it down with a slight movement endwise, so as to make 

 grooves the full depth of the projecting Vs. A pole with 

 the distance the rows are to be apart plainly marked on it 

 can be laid alongside of the bed as a guide, or the follow- 

 ing projection on the marker can be placed in the forward 

 groove and thus even spacing of the rows be made easy. 

 As absolute accuracy is not essential, any convenient method 

 of spacing may be adopted. The seeds can now be dropped 

 in the grooves and spaced in them as evenly as possible, 



