104 IMPORTANT TIMBER TREES 



appear fully to justify the expense. Nothing is done with 

 the seed-beds until snow occurs, and when two or three 

 inches have fallen, coarse, cheap burlaps are placed over 

 the beds and weights of some sort placed on the edges to 

 prevent winds blowing them off. The snow under the bur- 

 laps melts slowly and during some winters may not melt 

 until near spring. Even though the snow under the burlaps 

 should melt early and none fall afterward, they alone fur- 

 nish a fairly good protection. But if deep snows fall after 

 the burlaps are put on, and remain during the winter, there 

 is great danger that the plants will be smothered and die 

 for want of air, and it may be necessary to remove a part 

 of the snow. It is well known that wheat and grass are 

 frequently killed by being deeply covered with snow for a 

 month or so. Success with any system will depend largely 

 upon the character of the winter. If the surface of the beds 

 can be continually covered until spring with a blanket of 

 snow not to exceed four to six inches in depth, no other 

 covering will be required. It is manifest that climatic con- 

 ditions modify or entirely do away with the necessity for 

 winter protection. In many sections of the country no pro- 

 tection whatever is needed and in others more or less must 

 be given. A knowledge of the prevailing 'winter conditions 

 should guide in determining what should be done. 



Fertilizers for the Nursery. Trees respond to a gener- 

 ous diet as well as do other growths of the soil, and they 

 require substantially the same kind of food. When a tree 

 is well established its roots run deeper in the ground than 

 ordinary farm crops, and by so doing secure food there 

 which they except the tap-rooted ones cannot do in 

 early life when the small roots reach but a little way down ; 

 and this fact makes fertility of the surface soil highly essen- 

 tial. If the surface is fertile there is less wandering of the 

 roots after food, and the plants grown in such soil have a 

 more compact and vigorous root system, are stronger, and 

 in every way better able to withstand the shock of removal 

 to the forest. 



