﻿FOREST MANAGEMENT OF LOBLOLLY PINE. 37 



stock, and rodents. A small nursery can most readily be established 

 by taking a section of a well-cultivated vegetable garden. If the 

 soil is droughty there should be facilities for watering it in dry 

 weather. If the ground selected has not been cultivated for some 

 time it should be thoroughly worked, and if lacking in fertility, 

 should be enriched. 



Seed Beds and Planting Seeds. 



Before planting tne seed, carefully prepared beds should be made, 

 and the soil thoroughly worked, as for lettuce. Four feet wide and 

 24 feet long is the most convenient size for the beds. Parallel beds 

 should be separated by walks 2 feet wide. Where the soil is light 

 and dry, or very well drained, the beds can be on the same level 

 with the walks, otherwise they should be elevated several inches. 

 Planting in drills 4 inches apart, running crosswise of the bed, is the 

 best method. By sowing 1 ounce of seed per 24 linear feet of drill, 

 or about three-quarters of a pound per bed, it is safe to count on at 

 least 3,000 one-year seedlings per bed, where proper attention is 

 given to the work. This means 3,000 seedlings per 150 square feet 

 of nursery space, including area in walks, or over 2,000,000 seedlings 

 on a quarter acre. The seed should be sown in the spring, about the 

 same time as early vegetables. 



Care of Beds. 



Beds should be kept as uniformly moist as possible, to insure germi- 

 nation. Ten weeks after planting most of the seeds which are going 

 to sprout will be well up; weeding should then commence and be 

 continued through the season. The beds should be provided with 

 lath screens as soon as the seed is planted. These will keep the 

 seed bed uniformly moist and secure early germination. The seed- 

 lings should be kept under partial shade the whole of the first season. 

 Suitable screens can be made in frames "4 1 by 12 feet, of 2 by 2 inch 

 square sticks, across which laths are nailed, each lath alternating 

 with an open space of the same width." These frames should be 

 supported on posts so as to be about 18 inches above the seed bed. 

 They should be removed only during cold, cloudy weather, when 

 the seedlings need all the air possible to lessen the danger of their 

 "damping off." 



Transplanting Seedlings. 



Where three-year-old stock is desired the seedlings should be trans- 

 planted at the end of the first season into nursery rows, spaced 4 to 

 6 inches apart in these, and allowed to grow two more seasons. 

 Where two-year seedlings are desired it is unnecessary to transplant, 



1 From Yearbook Reprint 376, Dept. of Agriculture. 



