BBPOET OP THE FORESTER, 21 



The Pikes Peak station has included nurseries at Clyde, Kosemont, 

 and Bear Creek. The Clyde site has proved too small and too high 

 for extensive nursery work, and will be abandoned. The suitability 

 of the Bear Creek nursery site is also uncertain, since the seedlings of 

 Engelmann spruce, blue spruce, and lodgepole pine were all winter- 

 killed. A small new nursery at the ]\Iount Herman ranger station 

 has proved to have a far more favorable site than either the Clyde or 

 Bear Creek nurseries, and it will therefore be developed into a plant- 

 ing station, with the idea of finally concentrating at this point all 

 nursery work on the Pikes Peak National Forest. 



Yellow pine, Douglas fir, and Scotch pine 2-year-old seedlings from 

 Halsey were experimentally planted on six widely differing sites in 

 the Pikes Peak Forest, at a cost of $5.44 per 1,000. 



The 1903 field planting suffered seriously from drought. None of 

 the yellow pine and only .5 per cent of the Douglas fir is alive. Of 

 the 1906 field planting about 56 per cent of the trees were alive on 

 June 1. The loss was due to drought and trampling of cattle. 



At the Halsey station measures were taken to grow hardier and 

 stronger plant material. Trees planted in the sandhills are ex- 

 posed to very adverse conditions. The first step was to remove the 

 lath roofing from over all one and two year old yellow pine seed- 

 lings. To secure trees hardened to wind and sun, and possessing more 

 fibrous roots, all seedlings will in the future be transplanted to un- 

 shaded beds when one year old. With this new method of treatment 

 some of the 4 acres now under lath will be converted to open trans- 

 plant beds. 



Slower but more careful methods of planting raised the cost from 

 $1.68 to $3.95 per 1,000. The weather conditions were extremely un- 

 favorable. On June 1, 55 per cent of the jack pine and 82 per cent 

 of the Scotch pine planted during April and May were alive. Of 

 the trees planted in 1906, 47 per cent are living. A test planting of 

 40,000 Scotch pine purchased from nurserymen and set out carefully 

 is in good condition and shows considerable growth this season. 



There were shipped from Halsey for planting elsewhere 94,000 

 trees, chiefly to the North Platte, Niobrara, Garden City, and Pikes 

 Peak Forests. 



Important experiments under way include the use of commercial 

 fertilizer on the seed beds to induce more vigorous growth, shearing 

 the needles of trees before planting in the field, and impregnating 

 the seed beds with formalin solution to prevent " dami^ing off." 



At the Fort Bayard station the cost of transplanting was $1.63 

 per 1,000 or $0.79 per 1,000 more than last year. The increase is due 

 to the use of larger seedlings and wider spacing to permit of irriga- 

 gation for small ditches between the rows. The first field planting 

 with stock grown at this station was during April. Jack pine and 

 Douglas fir 2-year-old seedlings, fx'om Halsey. Nebr., were also 

 planted experimentally on selected sites. The average cost of plant- 

 ing was $5.75 per 1,000. One month after planting 82 per cent of 

 the trees were in good condition. A considerable loss will probably 

 result, however, from the dry weather of June and July. Of 460 

 transplants planted in December, 96 per cent were alive and in a 

 thrifty condition in May and had grown from 1 to 2^ inches. 



