Sowing Tree Seed in the Snow 



As the snow melts the seed sinks deeper and 

 deeper and finally buries itself in the ground 



TO keep our national 

 forests, which are 

 scattered from Alas- 

 ka to Porto Rico, up to 

 standard, twelve to fifteen 

 thousand acres have to be 

 reforested or planted each 

 year. The bare lands must 

 be made productive and 

 the thin stands of wood 

 must be improved. To do 

 this requires an immense 

 amount of labor. 



Two strips of plowed ground 

 form a guard to prevent a fire 

 from spreading.' No grass is al- 

 lowed to grow in the plowed strips 



Sowing Douglas fir seed in the 

 snow. When the snow melts the 

 seed settles in the ground and is 

 soon buried in a bed of earth 



One of the accompanying photographs 

 shows a company of men "broadcasting" 

 — that is, sowing seed by casting it broad- 

 cast, over the snow in the Siuslaw National 

 Forest, in Oregon. The seed they are 

 sowing is Douglas fir. As the snow 'melts 

 the seed sinks deeper and deeper and when 

 the snow disappears entirely the seed is 

 already covered over with sufficient dirt 

 to give it a bed in which to grow. The 

 chief disadvantage of the method is that 

 the seed is conspicuous on snow and likely 

 to be eaten by birds. After a few days of 

 sunshine it soon disappears from view. 



Another interesting part of the work is 



the building of fire guards to assist in pro- 

 tecting plantations. In the Nebraska 

 National Forest two strips of plowed 

 ground each twelve furrows wide and 

 separated by a strip of unplowed ground 

 about two rods wide are constructed. The 

 plowed strips are harrowed when necessary 

 to keep down subsequent growth and the 

 intervening strip of unplowed ground is 

 burned over. The strips arrest the fire 

 when a high wind is blowing. 



An ordinary fire-break costs about fifty 

 cents per mile per furrow. In heavy 

 timber the cost would be as much as fifty 

 dollars for the same distance. 



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