FOREST TREES. 165 
to throw it up in ridges the fall previous to sowing, 
that it may pulverize more easily in the spring. 
The seeds are sown pretty thickly. A pound of 
seed of the Norway Spruce occupies about twenty-five 
feet in length of a bed four feet wide. The extent of 
surface appropriated to other kinds is regulated to 
some extent by the number of seeds in a pound, as 
noted in the table to be given hereafter. The Euro- 
pean Larch is sown more thickly, one-fourth to two- 
thirds of the seeds being worthless. 
Mice are great devourers of the seeds of the Coni- 
fers. It is sometimes necessary to set traps for them, 
and everything in the neighborhood of the seed-beds 
likely to harbor them should be removed. Some 
kinds of birds are very fond of the seeds, and will 
collect in numbers upon the beds if unprotected, and 
do a great deal of mischief. A light covering of 
straw or evergreen branches will protect the seeds 
from the birds, and I have founda mulching with 
leaves of the White Pine to stop the ravages of mice. 
All such coverings should be carefully taken off when 
the young plants begin to appear. According to 
Loudon, the seeds of most kinds of Conifers will 
come up in from thirty to fifty days after sowing. 
Those of the Larch are more tardy in vegetating than 
the Norway Spruce or Scotch Pine. Fresh seed 
should always be used; that which is old is com- 
monly of little value. Larch seed loses its vitality in 
less than a year after being extracted from the cones. 
The critical period for young evergreens is the first 
two or three months after their appearance. If they 
