202 ELEMENTS OF SYLVICULTURE. 



If he has to deal with a soil already sufficiently 

 deep and rich, and a hardy tree which requires no 

 nurses, he can obviously have recourse to sowing. 

 But there will always exist this capital difference, 

 that he cannot sow as abundantly as is done in 

 nature. Moreover, the seeds are exposed to many 

 dangers before their germination. Besides being 

 liable to rot or lose their germinative faculty, they 

 are liable to be destroyed by animals which feed on 

 them. Nor ought it to be forgotten that, in spite of 

 every care, these seeds are not placed in the same con- 

 ditions as those which are shed naturally by the trees. 

 For a long time it could with truth be said that 

 sowing was less expensive than planting, as it was 

 the practice to make use of old seedlings, and put 

 them out too close. But it is now an established 

 fact, that the younger the plants are, the greater are 

 the chances of success. With the exception of the 

 silver fir and the beech, which it is dangerous to 

 put out before the age of three or four years, all 

 forest trees, especially the pines and the spruce fir, 

 ought to be put out earlier, or, at the latest in their 

 third year. Certain considerations, which we shall 

 discuss further on, and which are entirely special, 

 can alone determine otherwise. In this manner the 

 rearing of the seedlings becomes easier, their putting 

 out less expensive, and ultimate success much more 

 certain. By employing only the number of seed- 

 lings necessary, planting can be made as cheap as, 

 and sometimes cheaper than, sowing. Moreover, if 

 care is taken that the plants are not put out before 

 the dangers which threatened them in the seed have 



