3.52 REBOISEMENT IN FRANCE. 



was very satisfactory. The following details will serve as useful indica- 

 tions of the raode of its management : 



Before being sown the bed should be prepared by clearing the ground 

 and mixing the natural earth with heath mold of leaf trees, and in 

 adding to the soil some kind of manure. The ground is then carefully 

 broken up. ^ The ground may then be divided into beds, a meter in 

 breadth, raised above the level of the ground, and separated by foo^ 

 paths ; and the beds about 8 to 10 meters long must be surrounded by 

 sheltering screens or fences of Chinese arbor-vitre. While these shel- 

 ters are growing to a convenient height their places are supplied by 

 artificial shelters, either formed of straw or of osier, or hazel lattice-work 

 placed nearly vertically, or linen stretched over boards. The sowing fs 

 done in the first half of April, or later, if possible, in moist weather. It 

 does not seem necessary to cover the seeds with earth ; it is enough tb 

 pass the roller over the bed after scattering the seeds, and it is covered 

 with moss, reduced to small pieces, and watered. The quantity of seed 

 to be used per hectare is 12 kilograms per hectare; 12 for pines with 

 small seeds; 15 to 18 for larch, Norway fir, and black Austrian pine^ 

 26 to 30 for fir ; 1 hectoliter for oak, and 6 double decaliters for chest- 

 nut. The seeds gathered in the country have given much better results 

 than those obtained in the markets. The beds must be usually watered 

 daily until the plants have gained some strength. Alter the first year 

 the plants can be used. They cost 1 to 2 francs \)er thousand, are easily 

 dug up, and are removed at little expense. But the chances of such 

 young plants taking root being necessarily limited, it is only prudent to 

 use them in moderate conditions of soil and altitude*. 



Remarks. — The lifting of such young plants in the way described, is employed with 

 advantage in planting in tufts. The earth raised is divided into clods containing each 

 a certain number of plants, and these plants are conveyed in the clod to the i^lace 

 where they are to be planted ; fragments containing two, three, or four plants, to be 

 put into the place together, are ))roken off, and at least one of these always grows. 



To obtain hardier plants more likely to take root under severer cod:- 

 ditions, it is necessary to wait nearly three years, and to have thern 

 transplanted. The design of this operation is to place the young plants 

 in circumstances favorable for the development of the fibrous roots. Jtt 

 is employed for plants of a year old, and should be done in spring, Vh. 

 order not to expose the young plants to the risk of being raised out of 

 the ground by the frost. 



It has been attempted to avoid the expense of this difficult and costly 

 operation. As regards the oak, one agent has mentioned a process 

 which may not be uninteresting to bring under the notice of the agents. 

 This consists in artificially causing the acorns to sprout in winter, to 

 cut off the radicle and sow in the seed-bed the acorn thus mutdated. 

 It has been remarked that the loss of the radicle leads to the formation 

 of lateral roots, while it prevents the formation of a descending tap- 

 root. 



Remarks. — Transplanting does not always appear to bo necessary. In the nurseries 

 it is practiced at different periods of the plant's growth. If when the plants are 

 required, the best and most tibrous-rooted alone are made choice of, the removal of 

 these will have the effect of relieving the others, and so favoring their development. 

 In this way, plants of different stages of development may be successively removed, 

 and this kiud of periodical thinnirg has, for its result, to permit the plants of inferior 

 growth to acquire sufficient strength. This removal is facilitated by the arraugement 

 of the plants in rows on the beds. When it is necessary to thin the plants, there is 



' Remark of Administration : If encumbered with weeds, it may be well to raise on 

 it a crop of potatoes to secure their destruction before appropriating the ground to the 

 growth of forest seeds. -Too much digging or displacement of the soil should be avoided. 



