NURSERY PRACTICE ON THE NATIONAL FORESTS. "1 1 



cient, or where it is desirable to effect an economy in space, as under 

 high shade frames, broadcasting is preferable. In Forest Service 

 nurseries broadcasting is coming more and more into favor. 



Sowing in drills. — In the drill method the seed are distributed 

 in drills from 3 to 6 inches apart and from one-fourth to one-half 

 inch deep by means of a hand seed drill, or a seeding board, or 

 by hand. If a seed drill is used, it has to be regulated by trial to 

 sow the proper number of seed per linear foot. After the drill is 

 regulated the hopper is filled with seed and the drill is pushed ahead 

 in a straight line. At the Cottonwood and Pilgrim Creek Nurseries 

 irills have proved twice as rapid as broadcasting. However, there 

 ire some drawbacks — resinous seed stick and do not feed well; the 

 ieed must be very clean; it is difficult to regulate the drills so thai 

 ;hey wdll distribute the seed evenly, especially small seed; and the 

 Irills are not so well suited for sowing across the beds as lengthwise. 



For drill sowing across the beds a marker, hinged seeding board, 

 md a seed trough (see fig. 3) have proved highly efficient. The 

 narker consists of a plank 4 feet long, 15 inches wide, and 1£ inches 

 hick, with two handles projecting beyond each end, and with tri- 

 mgular strips of wood from one-half inch to 1 inch thick on a side 

 md 4 feet long, nailed longitudinally and parallel, from 3 to 6 

 nches apart, on its under side. By pressing these triangular strips 

 >r cleats into the soft earth of the prepared seed bed perfect V-shaped 

 lepressions can be made of the depth desired. Two men can mark 

 : rom 100 to 200, 4 by 12 foot beds per day with this board, depend- 

 ng upon the depth desired and the condition of the soil. 



The seeding board consists of two strips of board 4^ feet long, 3 

 nches wide, and three-fourths inch in thickness (narrow bevel siding 

 s sometimes used), joined edge to edge by a small hinge at each 

 nd. The adjoining edges of the boards for a distance of 4 feet 

 'the width of the seed beds) are beveled on the top side between 

 he hinges, one edge much more than the other, so that a shoulder 

 s formed on which seed uniformly distributed will remain when 

 he board is dipped into the trough partly filled with seed, then 

 ipped each way so that all superfluous ones will fall back into the 

 rough. By varying the depth of the groove and the width of the 

 houlder on the adjoining side the board can be made to sow any 

 [uantity desired. One of the outer edges of the board is beveled far 

 >ack on the under side so as to offer no obstruction when the seed 

 s dipped. Two men operate it, one at each side of the bed. The 

 •oard is dipped with a swinging motion into the trough and then 

 owered and held close over the drill to be seeded; the hinges are 

 >ent upward, and the seeds fall into the drill. 



The seeding trough is 8 inches deep, rounded slightly on the bot- 

 om and up one side, from 10 to 14 inches wide, and o feet long. It 



