188 



Canadian Forestry Journal, September, ipij. 



farmers at about five dollars an acre, 

 there are now 1800 acres under con- 

 trol 15 acres being actually in the 

 nursery. Looking across the pro- 

 perty, it seemed hard to believe that 

 five years back the place looked one 

 of the most dismal farming pros- 

 pects of the neighborhood, with a 

 few scattered sheds, broken fences, 

 and long strips of blow sand and 

 boulders. It bears an appearance 

 to-day of painstaking cultivation 

 and has in all its equipment the mark 

 of scientific management. 



Under the guidance of Mr. E. J. 

 Zavitz, Provincial Forester of On- 

 tario, Prof. J. H. White, of the Uni- 

 versity of Toronto Forest School, 

 and Superintendent Newman, the 

 Editor of the Journal was given an 

 opportunity of investigating many 

 phases of the work. 



The nursery beds represent all the 

 native growing conifers, such as 

 white, Scotch and jack pine, white 

 and Norway spruce, Douglas fir, 

 tamarack, etc., and a wide variety 

 of hardwoods. The evergreen seeds 

 are obtained in the neighborhood or 

 purchased from dealers and are 

 planted in rows. The growth is re- 

 markably rapid and uniform, the 

 little plants appearing sturdy and 

 well rooted. Conditions of sun and 

 moisture are controlled to a maxi- 

 mum degree by adjustable shades 

 which can be rolled over the beds 

 or removed at will. Series of per- 

 forated pipes, connected with the 

 main water tower holding five thou- 

 sand gallons, are arranged over the 

 beds so that a gentle "rain-fall" is 

 always at the command of the nur- 

 sery superintendent, rendering the 

 growth independent of natural mois- 

 ture. The beds are kept entirely 

 free from weedy growths and pro- 

 duce results, of course, far out- 

 stripping anything encountered in 

 the natural forest. Transplanting, 

 which bunches the roots and renders 

 the young tree fit for the harder 

 conditions of the open field, is also 

 carried on in one of the adjacent 

 fields where rows of sorghum, three 



to five feet high, and five feet apart, 

 have been utilized to give winter 

 protection to fall-planted stock. 

 Transplanting in both spring and 

 fall distributes the burden of labor 

 and affords an opportunity for in- 

 teresting observations. Between the 

 sorghum rows, a gang of men was 

 seen engaged in the planting opera- 

 tion. By a division of duty, one man 

 cut with his spade along a stretched 

 cord indicating the position of the 

 trench. A second laborer spaded 

 back the earth. Immediately in his 

 tracks came .the planter, accom- 

 panied by an assistant who held the 

 pail of moistened and protected 

 white pine transplants. With a 

 speed nearly incredible, the planter 

 placed a tree against the straight 

 wall of. the trench, banked in suffi- 

 cient earth about it. and so con- 

 tinued with succeeding trees. On 

 his heels came another worker who 

 further filled in the trench, stamped 

 down the surface and raked it level. 

 The mechanical certainty of these 

 operations and the economy of effort 

 result in a planting record of 2,000 

 trees per man per day. After the 

 first winter, the sorghum has ser- 

 ved its purpose of wind protection 

 and retaining the snows and is cut 

 down. 



Six Year Pine Growth. 



Other parts of the nursery and 

 plantation display quite as interest- 

 ing and remarkable undertakings. 

 Six years ago. the Department set 

 out in a stretch of blow sand cross- 

 ing the property many thousands of 

 tiny jack pine and Scotch pine trans- 

 plants. At that time the plantation 

 averaged a few inches high and 

 could have been uprooted in a few 

 hours by one man. To-day, how- 

 ever, hundreds of the trees stand 

 nine and ten feet high, and so dense 

 is their growth and so strong the 

 individual trees that a stampede of 

 steers would make little progress in 

 a head-on collision. Scotch and 

 Jack pine show about equally good 

 results. Even at their present stage 



