SYLVICULTURE. 



cultivating rows of plants; watering which must be continued if 

 once begun. 



B. Protection of nursery plants against frost: Same measures 

 as in "A" inclusive of watering; smoking fires; pressing seedlings 

 lifted by frost back into the bed; no weeding from September on. 



C. Protection against excessive rain (which washes the plants 

 out, or splashes them with mud-pants, or incrusts the surface) : 

 Top dressing of leaves, moss or Pine branches; "combing" mud- 

 pants off the seedlings; lath or brush covers. 



Paragraph XXXIII. Nursing in nurseries. 



A. Weeding: Weeding is facilitated in nurseries by a regular 

 arrangement of the plants and by narrow beds. Tools are: knife, 

 fork, hoe or special weeding wheels. Weeding shoufd be stopped 

 a month before frost comes in. The purpose of w^eeding is not 

 only the removal of competitors; it is also aeration of the soil. 



Weeding can be dispensed with in dense, broadcast seed beds; 

 in thinly stocked beds planted broadcast it is most necessary and 

 most difficult. 



B. Cultivation: Cultivation in the transplanting beds of com- 

 mercial nurseries (Beadle at Biltmore) is done by cultivators drawn 

 by a horse. Cultivation in forest nurseries proper purports to break 

 the crust forming under the influence of heavy rain fall. Usually 

 the act of w^eeding cultivates the soil as well. Cultivation is most 

 easily effected by drawing some strong nails driven into a stick 

 along each rill. This cultivation, at the same time, disturbs and 

 scares away mice, A'oles and insects. 



C. Carpeting the intervals between rills or rows: 



Reversed moss, spent tan, sawdust, straw, hay, twigs (always 

 of another species), poles (never fresh cut pine poles, which are 

 incubators to snout beetles) are often laid between the rills or 

 rows so as to preserve moisture, to prevent mud-pants from forming 

 on the stemlets and to check weeds. These carpets, however, har- 

 bor mice and insects. Large leaves in the carpet threaten to 

 smother young seedlings if blown upon them. 



D. Trimming. The top shoot when killed by early frost or 

 drought might be cut off. In no other case must it be touched. 

 The side branches of broad-leafed species and of winterbald coni- 

 fers might be clipped before or after planting and transplanting so 

 as to reestablish the previous' equilibrium existing between water 

 sucking power of the roots now checked by transplanting and water 

 evaporation from the crownlets left unchecked by planting. Species 

 having a heavy central pith column should not be trimmed too 



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