No. 4.1 REPORT OF STATE FORESTER. 511 



Majjs. 



All unfinished maps were completed during the year. At 



the present time a large line map is being made for the use of 



observation stations in connection with forest fire work. Pocket 



field maps are also being made for use during the coming season. 



Nursery Work. 



Our principal advance in nursery work this past season was 

 the leasing of 7 acres of remarkably fertile soil in the village 

 of Barnstable. In the early spring a portion of the ground was 

 cleared and plowed, and 300 12 by 4 feet seed-beds were placed 

 in position. These beds are of the latest type wooden frames, 

 with wire sides and a combined wire and lath cover screen. 

 In addition, some 200,000 pine, spruce and ash were set in as 

 transplants. The seed-beds have shown remarkable germina- 

 tion, and will produce an immense crop of two-year seedlings 

 one year hence. Water is supplied by a gasohne engine pump- 

 ing from a well to an elevated tank. A small but neat building 

 to serve as a camp for the men and a storehouse for tools was 

 also erected. Only one-half of the 7 acres is at present in use, 

 but by next spring the entire area will be ready for transplant- 

 ing. 



The nursery at Sandwich, which, owing to the sandy soil and 

 the difficulty of getting water, was unsuccessful, has been dis- 

 continued. 



We also did no further transplanting at Hopkinton, where 

 we have in the past set in some surplus stock that could not be 

 accommodated at Amherst. 



The nursery which we operate in co-operation with the State 

 Farm at Bridgewater this spring suffered severely from frost heav- 

 ing. We lay this to two causes, — . fall transplanting and the 

 rawness of the soil, which had just been newly cleared and 

 never cultivated. We shipped 100,000 seedUngs to take the 

 place of those heaved out, and do not anticipate that the same 

 trouble will occur again. If it does, another site can be selected 

 for future work. 



The Amherst nursery has been our main source of supply 

 during this year, as it has been in the past. One hundred and 



