36 BULLETIN 604^ U. S. DEPARTMENT OE AGRICULTURE. 



the average, therefore, about 3 pounds is usually sown to each 100 

 square feet of seed bed, or H pounds to each 100 linear feet of drill. 

 Under favorable conditions germination usually takes place in 

 about three weeks and is fairly uniform, little if any of the fertile 

 seed lying dormant. The seedling develops fairly rapidly for a 

 conifer, and by the end of the first season is from 2 to 4 inches tall 

 and has a root from 6 to 10 inches long. When 1 year old it usually 

 is transplanted into beds or pots, and when 2 or 3 years old it is set 

 out in the field, having by that time reached a height of from 6 to 10 

 inches. The cost of raising stock varies widely, but is proportionately 

 less when large quantities are raised. At the Pilgrim Creek nursery 

 on the Shasta National Forest, in 1912, the cost of raising 1-year-old 

 seedlings was $7.63 per 1,000, including overhead charges, and it was 

 estimated that 2-year-old stock one year in the transplant beds had 

 cost approximately $13.35 per 1,000. Adding $2.98, the average cost 

 of preparing for shipment and hauling to the railroad, gives the 

 average cost of stock of this species when it left the nursery as $16.63 

 per 1,000. At other nurseries where stock has been raised in smaller 

 quantities and transplanted into paper pots instead of transplant 

 beds the cost has run as high as $27.50 per 1,000. There is little 

 question, however, that stock of this species raised in commercial 

 quantities could be produced at a cost considerably below these fig- 

 ures. For ornamental purposes, for which there is a growing de- 

 mand, incense cedars bring 60 cents apiece when from 6 inches to 

 1 foot high and $1.50 when from 2 to 4 feet high. 



FIELD PLANTING AND SOWING. 



Repeated efforts have been made by the Forest Service to establish 

 plantations of incense cedar by sowing both broadcast and in seed 

 pots but with indifferent success, owing to damage by rodents and 

 drought and to many of the sites being unfavorable. Where con- 

 ditions are favorable, however, planting with this species gives fair 

 promise of success. Too little work has yet been done to determine 

 conclusively the possibilities of field planting, but there is every rea- 

 son to believe that with proper methods incense cedar can be planted 

 successfully. The cost, however, will have to be reduced materially 

 before field planting can be done at a profit that will justify its 

 being attempted on a commercial scale by private individuals. 



