SOME DEVELOPMENTS IN REFORESTATION ON THE 

 NATIONAL FORESTS. 



C. R. Tillotson '09. 



Reforestation on the National Forests has come within the 

 last half-dozen years to be one of the main activities of the 

 Forest Service. At present, the plans call for the planting or 

 sowing of about 16,000 acres yearly. This work can be con- 

 sidered one of the world's big reforestation projects. The com- 

 plexity of conditions which have been met and the lack of ex- 

 perience in western work is making the solution of the problem 

 somewhat difficult. The expenditure of money which it involves, 

 however, has made necessary careful attention to details; and 

 developments, accordingly, both in nursery practice and sowing 

 and planting have been rapid enough to be very encouraging. As 

 some of these developments may be interesting, they are set forth 

 in the following pages. 



NURSERY PRACTICE. 



Nursery practice works toward two things: (1) The pro- 

 duction of stock of a type most likely to succeed when field 

 planted; and (2) its production at the lowest possible cost. The 

 developments in nursery practice have accordingly been guided 

 by these two fundamentals. 



A perfect unanimity of opinion of the type of stock towards 

 which nursery practice should strive has not yet been reached 

 for all conditions, but in general it is conceded that trees with 

 a well-balanced system of roots and tops are the most ideal type. 

 The root system should be ten to twelve inches in depth, bushy, 

 and provided with an abundance of root hairs. The tops should 

 be compact and preferably not over four to five inches in height. 

 The age of the stock is of no particular significance except as it 

 indicates the foregoing qualities. 



Through experiments it has been found that in soils of a 

 loose composition a better type of root system is formed than 

 in those of a heavy compact character. In soils, further, which 

 are kept moderately fresh through watering, better root systems 

 are formed than where the plants are given very little water with 

 the idea of approximating the conditions which would obtain for 



