SYLVICULTURE. 



A mixture of humus with street sweepings, kitchen refuse, loairi, 

 burnt lime, etc., is often placed in huge heaps near the nurseries. 

 The heaps are kept in a rotation so that the heap made in 1903 

 is used only in 1906. The heaps are stirred up repeatedly so as to 

 be acted upon by the air. 



IV. Vegetable matter other than humus. Such fertilizer may 

 be obtained by raising, on the fallow beds, during the fallow year, 

 cowpeas, clover, lupine (the latter on sandy soil) and other legumin- 

 ous plants, all to be plowed under in fall. 



Leguminous plants increase the nitrogen in the soil. 



V. ^^'ood ashes: Excessive use of wood ashes is disastrous to 

 sprouting plants, especially on sandy soil. Besides kalium, wood 

 ashes contain from 5% to 20% of phosphoric salts. Wood ashes 

 should be used, however, moderately in Yellow Pine nurseries. 



VI. Sod ashes are recommended where other fertilizers are too 

 costly. Sods of grass, of weeds or of huckleberries are dried, the 

 majority of the dirt removed and used to build a chimney and a 

 kiln resembling a charcoal kiln, wherein layers of sod alternate 

 with layers of brushwood, waste thinnings, etc. The kiln is cov- 

 ered with sods and wet dirt. Kilns burn, according to size, for 

 from two days to two weeks. The sod ashes contain all mineral 

 fertilizers needed; have great hygroscopicity and are free from 

 insects, fungi and other bearers of plant diseases. 



Sod ashes should be exposed to the atmosphere for a year 

 before use, and should then be well mixed with the top layer of 

 nursery dirt. 



Paragraph XXX. Seed planting in seed beds. 



Seedbeds: Prescription for preparation: Plough and cross- 

 plough to a depth of one foot; mix manure well with soil; heap 

 the dirt taken from the paths on top of the beds; remove stones. 



Seeds are planted either broadcast or in drills to a depth 

 generally equaling their longest dimensions. 



A. Broadcast planting is always used in commercial nurseries 

 while the sylviculturists use it only for seeds of small germinating 

 percentage (Birch, Elm, Beech, Alder and Yellow Poplar) or in 

 case of very light grained species which do not allow of any covering. 



Broadcast planting is permissible if seedlings are kept in the 

 bed one year only. Economy in size of nursery and less weeding 

 are the advantages of broadcast planting. 



With the help of a roller or, better still, of a heavy plank, 

 the surface of the seed bed is pressed down until an even surface 



70 



