10 MASSACHUSETTS TREE PLANTER 



drained situation. Owing to the smallness of the seeds, they 

 are most easily handled when enclosed in strong cloth bags. 

 These bags, when placed in the ground, should be surrounded 

 by sand or leaf litter with a thick layer of earth over all, and 

 left underground until spring. 



(e) Sugar Maple 



Sugar maple seeds should be collected in October, and 

 cared for in the manner advised for seeds of the white ash. 



TREATMENT IN THE NURSERY OF THE MORE IMPORTANT 



TREES 



The best time to plant the seeds is in the spring. This 

 applies to all the trees considered. As soon as the ground 

 is dry enough to work, the seed beds can be made up and 

 the seeds planted; but no planting should be done when the 

 soil is either excessively wet or very dry. 



A general rule, in planting forest tree seeds, is to cover 

 them with dirt from two to three times the thickness of the 

 seed. 



(a) White Pine 



White pine seed can either be sown broadcast over the 

 bed, or it may be sown in drills. As it is very difficult in 

 sowing broadcast to secure an even distribution of seed, the 

 method of drills is to be preferred. Moreover, the seed- 

 lings grown in rows are more uniform in size and usually 

 stronger than those raised from broadcast sowing. The 

 drills may be from six to twelve inches apart, while the 

 individual seeds in each drill should be spaced, on the aver- 

 age, not more than three to an inch. 



White pine see.dlings, in common with those of other coni- 

 fers, require partial protection from the sun during the first 

 few years of their life. In nature, the proper amount of 

 shading is furnished by the larger trees and by the ground 

 cover. In the nursery, screens of lath are customarily em- 

 ployed to give the necessary protection. 



The screens may be made by nailing laths on a frame four 

 feet wide and of any convenient length. Between each lath 



