32 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 



the plowing over of all soil, is accomplished by horse power, which 

 necessitates longer beds than would be necessary if only man labor 

 was used. 



Making the Seed Beds. Three beds are made, end to end. If a 

 bed of shorter dimensions were used it would mean lost motion 

 and loss in area. I will explain the exact manner in which the bed 

 is prepared ready for the sowing of the seed. One straight, deep 

 furrow is plowed across the entire area, necessary to make three 

 beds each 176 feet long. The labor required is two teams for the 

 plowing and 15 men for the raking, five men per bed. As soon as 

 the furrow is plowed the men rake the ground smooth and level. 

 This raking lakes place as fast as each single furrow is plowed. I 

 find that it is much more satisfactory to rake each individual fur- 

 row, as it is plowed, than to wait until the whole four-foot area has 

 been plowed over and then attempt to rake it down smooth and 

 level. After the beds have been raked and re-raked until each 

 small lump of earth has been broken and leveled the surface 

 should be as level as a table top and free from lumps of unbroken 

 soil. 



Sowing the Seed. After first ascertaining the correct germina- 

 tion percentage of the seed to be sown it will be necessary to decide 

 how thick to sow it, reckoned on the basis of so many seeds to the 

 square foot depending on the nature of the variety, and the length 

 of time they are to be left in the seed beds. For instance, take 

 some of the Piceas, with a maturity date of three years, and assum- 

 ing they will reach an average height at that time of six to eight 

 inches, one square foot of ground will accommodate about one 

 hundred plants, and seed should be planted accordingly, or the 

 seedlings thinned to that number w^hile small. 



The seed is sown by two men, one on each side of the bed, each 

 sower covers one half of the bed. After the seed has been sown 

 it is rolled into the soil firmly with a wooden roller. This insures 

 every seed coming into direct contact with the soil. The seed is 

 now ready to be covered. The usual rule in planting conifer seed 

 is to put the covering on twice the diameter of the seed. This 

 operation we used to do by hand, using clear sand, the men taking 

 it from pails and putting it on the beds. We now make use of a 

 specially constructed machine, which is drawn from one end of the 



