tected by boards one foot long set on edge along the sides 

 and held in place by stakes. This stops surface windsweep. 

 The bed is protected by screens made of lath which are bet- 

 ter than brush as the shading is more uniform. The lath 

 screens are made so that the spaces between are the width of 

 a lath, thus giving half shade to the young seedlings. The 

 seed is pressed into the soil with the back of a spade and cov- 

 ered very lightly with sand. In nurseries where the work is 

 done on a large scale, the lath is placed on framework high 

 enough to walk under, or covered with brush instead of lath. 

 In some experiments at this Station the lath screens have 

 been found more efficient especially in dry windy springs, 

 by being covered with very thin white muslin at first. The 

 advantage of the lath screens is that they can be readily re- 

 moved in cloudy weather when the seedlings should have 

 more light. The first year the young seedlings make a 

 growth of not more than two or three inches and are pro- 

 tected over winter by a light covering of straw or leaves. 

 The second year the seedlings make a growth of two to four 

 inches. In the spring of the second year the seedlings must 

 be transplanted to beds. 



Nursery-Grown vs. Forest Seedlings. 

 The seedlings are either grown from seed in the nursery or dug 

 in the forest. Although the nursery-grown seedlings usually 

 cost more, they are much better adapted to prairie conditions 

 than the seedlings which have come up in the shade and 

 shelter of the forests. Furthermore, the nursery plants have 

 more fibrous roots because they are transplanted at two years 

 of age into beds and later into nursery rows, while the forest 

 plants have formed tap-roots and are transplanted with 

 greater difficulty. However, forest seedlings are planted 

 largely by nurserymen and others who have learned the art 

 of gradually adapting them to the prairie sun and air. This 

 gradual hardening is accomplished by shading the seedlings 

 the first two years with brush or lath screens in much" the 

 same manner as for seed beds. The forest seedlings should 



