66 THE AMES FORESTER 



sustained annual or periodic yield basis the Forest would have 

 been perpetuated and today we would not be worrying about 

 the reforestation of 85,000 acres of land. In addition, there 

 would have been a permanent industry in our midst drawn di- 

 rectly from the economic resources of the Forest. As it is, the 

 business has moved to new fields. 



Natural regeneration has proven unsuccessful, and it will 

 be necessary to restock the area artificially. Planting is far 

 more economical than the scattered seed trees, even if they 

 had been a success in starting a new stand. Reforestation by 

 planting falls under two lines of work, namely nursery opera- 

 tions and field planting. 



NURSERY OPERATIONS 



The Forest Service recognizes the value of reforestation 

 work. White pine and norway pine, the two most important 

 economic species, are represented in the nursery, because they 

 have the highest market value. They are fairly rapid growing 

 trees and combined with favorable soil, site and moisture con- 

 ditions such as are found in Northern Minnesota make field 

 planting a proposition that will bring a fair rate of interest 

 on a long time investment. In 1913, a small ranger nursery 

 existed at Cass Lake. At that time it was authorized at 200,- 

 000 capacity. In the same year it was enlarged and authorized 

 at 500,000 capacity, with 300,000 white pines and 200,000 

 norway pines. Fifty per cent of the output is 2-1 stock, 20% 

 3-0 stock and 15% 1-1 and 2-0 respectively. 



The nursery is located on National Forest land bordering 

 the townsite of Cass Lake. The location is a particularly 

 favorable one. In locating a nursery, the following factors 

 are taken into consideration. 



1. It should be located favorably in regard to the distri- 

 bution of its products. 



2. A well drained sandy loam soil is preferable. 



3. It should be situated so as to escape frost and other 

 injuries and should never be located in low, damp surround- 

 ings where it is highly susceptible to damping off. 



4. An adequate water supply should be at hand. 



5. Labor should be available at all times. 



The Cass Lake Nursery has all of these peculiarly de- 



