REFORESTATION ON MINNESOTA NATIONAL FOREST 71 



seedlings amounts to $.39 and $.13 per M respectively. This 

 cost could be materially lessened by the use of some mechan- 

 ical device such the the Smith tree digger now in use at the 

 Halsey Nursery. 



The planting area on the Minnesota National Forest repre- 

 sents two types of soil clayey loam and sand. These re- 

 spectively represent white pine and norway pine situations. 

 These sites are again divided into three different planting 

 areas representing burned and cutover land. Some of the area 

 is very open with very little ground cover. This condition 

 signifies a hard burn. Other portions of the area are simi- 

 lar but in many places a dense growth of grass and low 

 bushes has sprung up, while other parts of the area are en- 

 tirely brush land. 



These situations represent individual problems which must 

 be solved by constant attention and a diversity of planting 

 stock. It would seem that the open, barren soil, where there 

 is no competition with grass or other undergrowth would 

 afford an ideal planting site. Certain classes of stock, the 

 older and hardier, do survive on such sites, but the smaller 

 classes cannot live unless they are planted during a year 

 when the precipitation is above normal and comes at the 

 proper time. The roots of the smaller classes, such as the 

 1-1 are very short, compact and well developed but they do 

 not penetrate the ground to a sufficient depth to survive a 

 drought. This same stock with the same seasonal conditions 

 planted in the brushy type or on the shady side of a log or 

 stump does very well. Observations have proven that the 

 smaller stock during the fore part of the growing season 

 will appear healthy and produce strong growing shoots but 

 upon the advent of a drought during midsummer, the sur- 

 vival percentage will materially decrease. The matted sod 

 and low bush type is the most difficult with which we have 

 to contend. None of the stock seems to be able to cope suc- 

 cessfully with it. It is necessary, in extreme cases, to remove 

 a certain portion of the sod in the immediate vicinity of the 

 plant. This is done with a spade, but in cases where the 

 country is open and there are few stumps, or old windfalls, 

 logs or other debris that may be left on the ground at the 



