FIFTH NATIONAI, CONSERVATION CONGRESS 79 



"2. In areas where seed trees are very liable to be wind-thrown if left soH- 

 tary, it is wisdom to artificially reforest rather than to run a large risk of losing 

 the seed trees before they have seeded up the area. Such areas are not common, 

 but they do occur on certain kinds of soil and in certain exposed situations. 



"3. Where all the trees in the stand are sound and high grade, and where 

 every tree has a high merchantable value, it may be economically more profitable 

 to log every tree and artificially restock the areas than to leave trees of high mer- 

 chantable value as seed trees. Such a condition as this is rare in the Northwest. 



"4. Where it is important to secure a cover at once and it is not policy to 

 wait even a year for the natural reproduction, as on a city watershed, or where 

 the competition of brush is feared, or where erosion is to be guarded against, 

 some method of artificial reforestation, preferably planting, must be resorted to."* 



Although reforestation may be accomplished by seed sowing in spots at an 

 average cost of $4.35 per acre, planting is a much surer method. Direct seeding 

 is uncertain and chances for failure are great. 



Planting can be done in the most favorably situated localities in such a way 

 as to be successful for $8.50 per acre, but the cost will be greater when the trans- 

 portation charges for plants and labor are high. The cost per acre on an average 

 accessible tract in this locality will be about as follows, assuming that 681 trees 

 are planted per acre — i. e., that they are spaced 8 feet by 8 feet, the spacing now 

 used on the National Forests: 



Per thousand 

 plants 



Per acre 

 8x8 feet 



Nursery-grown 1-1 transplants ready for shipment- 

 Transportation, nursery to planting site 



Labor of planting 



Supervision 



Total 



$3.72 



.51 



4.77 



.85 



$8.85 



"The practicability of planting is, of course, contingent upon the possibility 

 of securing plants. For large operators or for the Forest Service, which raises 

 its own trees, the cost of the trees is lower than it would be for the small operator 

 who has but a small tract to reforest each year and must buy his planting stock 

 of a commercial nursery, and must run the risk of not being able to get any 

 locally grown nursery stock when he wants it."* 



Douglas fir will ordinarily be used pure, except in special cases where it is 

 desirable to use some red cedar, Sitka spruce, white pine or noble fir with it. 



In addition to the cut-over areas that require artificial reforestation, there 

 are burns in this type, denuded by severe crown fires, that need artificial treat- 

 ment. Douglas fir shows a remarkable ability to re-establish a stand after fire, 

 but it is chiefly the second or third fire at short intervals on the same ground that 

 makes artificial planting necessary. The burns will be reforested in the same 

 method that is applicable on cut-over land. It is usually best to plant up a burn 



* "Natural vs. Artificial Regeneration in the Douglas Fir Region of the Pacific Coast," 

 by Thornton T. Hunger. "Proceedings of the Society of American Foresters," VII, 2. 



