UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



m BULLETIN No. 475 i 



Neltr^iifS? Contribution from the Forest Service. <j 



J§^"^C^. HENRY S. GRAVES, Forester. JZJ&'^&U 



Washington, D. C. 



PROFESSIONAL PAPER 



May 28, 1917 



REFORESTATION ON THE NATIONAL FORESTS. 



By C. R. Tillotson, Forest Examiner. 



CONTENTS. 



Page. 



Introduction 1 



Reforestation an essential fea- 

 ture of National Forest ad- 

 ministration 2 



Collection of seed 3 



Seed crops 3 



Gathering the seed 4 



Drying the cones 6 



Extracting the seed 13 



Seed cleaning 14 



Yield from cones 17 



Cost of seed 17 



Number of seed per pound 18 



Seed storing 18 



Page. 



Sowing and planting 18 



Status of the work on the Na- 

 tional forests 18 



Sowing and planting methods 20 



Quantity of seed and number of 



plants per acre 32 



Costs 33 



Season 36 



Field organization 39 



Causes of failure and losses, 



and methods of prevention-- 46 



Sowing or planting by regions- 53 



INTRODUCTION. 



The National Forests are scattered from Alaska to Porto Rico and 

 contain within their boundaries all sorts of timberlands, from those 

 which produce only cordwood to those which support the finest and 

 most valuable stands of timber in the world. Sometimes natural re- 

 generation of the forest fails or a forest not yet producing seed needs 

 to be increased in density. There are also in the National Forests 

 about 5,600,000 acres now bearing little or no tree growth which are 

 capable of producing valuable timber and are suitable for no other 

 purpose. It is the object of reforestation to improve the stands which 

 are too thin and to make the bare lands productive. Reforestation 

 operations on the National Forests now cover from twelve to fifteen 

 thousand acres yearly. 



Note. — This bulletin supersedes Forest Service Bulletin 98, " Reforestation on the 

 National Forests," by W. T. Cox, on which the material relating to seed collecting and 

 direct seeding is largely based. It represents the results of the study and experience of 

 many different members of the Forest Service. The author's part has been to compile, 

 weigh, and harmonize these results and to present the reforestation work of the Forest 

 Service as a whole. 



62479°— Bull. 475—17 1 



