14 MASSACHUSETTS TREE PLANTER 



air spaces must be allowed around the rootlets, or fatal dry- 

 ing will result. 



The distance apart at which the seedlings are to be set 

 out will vary somewhat with the objects sought from the 

 plantation. A spacing of six feet apart each way is ordi- 

 narily the one to adopt for commercial plantations in Massa- 

 chusetts ; though where rough box lumber alone is desired a 

 wider spacing may often be employed to advantage. When 

 spaced 6x6 feet, 1210 plants are needed to stock one acre. 



Once a year, during the first two or three years after its 

 establishment, the plantation should be looked over and if 

 large groups of seedlings have died they may be replaced 

 by fresh plants. Beyond planting up blanks caused in this 

 way the plantation, until it becomes ten to twenty years old, 

 will require no care except protection from fire. For in- 

 formation as to the care of a plantation more than ten to 

 twenty years of age, the reader is referred to Bulletin No. 2 

 of this office. 



There are certain species of trees whose seeds can suc- 

 cessfully be planted on the land where they are to remain 

 permanently, thus doing away with much of the trouble 

 and expense which is unavoidable when seedlings are bought 

 or raised to be set out on the planting site. Of the species 

 considered in this pamphlet, chestnut and red oak are such 

 trees. Their nuts and acorns, instead of being sown in a 

 seed bed, may be placed two in a hill on the land to be 

 planted ; the holes to be spaced 6x6 feet, just as though 

 seedlings were being planted. 



As the expense of establishing a plantation of chestnut or 

 red oak is greatly lessened by planting the nuts or acorns 

 instead of the seedlings, it is advised, that the former 

 method be employed for these two species, whenever the 

 proposed planting site is fairly clear of bushes and sprout 

 growth. When the land is already covered with bushes or 

 young sprouts, however, it will often be expedient to go to 

 the greater expense of planting the seedlings. 



The sowing of white pine seed broadcast, over a field or 

 pasture, in the majority of cases results in failure to estab- 

 lish a satisfactory crop of seedlings. Even where seed spots 



