46 EVERGREENS, 



furrows should tie plowed six feet apart and the trees planted in 

 the bottom of the furrow. 



4. Pine trees should be planted early in May in damp or 

 foggy weather if possible. Never attempt to plant pine trees in 

 dry, windy weather. 



5. Every precaution must be taken to prevent undue Expos- 

 ure of the roots to the sun and wind. 



In connection with tree planting, growing the seedlings has 

 required much of our time and attention. Time will not per- 

 mit me to go into detail in discussing this work. Suffice it to 

 say that we now have two and one-half acres of seed beds un- 

 der slatted roof, which gives us a capacity of from 3,000,000 to 

 4,000,000 of seedlings. The slatted roof over the beds gives us 

 part shade, which is necessary the first year. The western 

 yellow pine and the red spruce are easily raised from seed; 

 they are strong, thrifty seedlings and require- very little atten- 

 tion. The jack pine is a very tender little seedling, and if one- 

 half of the plants that start out survive the first year they are 

 extremely fortunate. The first and great calamity to befall them 

 is an attack of "damping off." The best remedy that I have 

 found to prevent serious loss from this source is a good dress- 

 ing of gravel over the surface of the seed beds. Sow the seed 

 on the surface of the bed and then with a shovel scatter a thin 

 layer of gravel over the seed; it should never be over one- 

 half inch in depth. The gravel permits the surface of the beds 

 to drain quickly, prevents the soil from spattering up over the 

 plants in times of rain, thus leaving the stems clean at all times 

 and in the very best possible condition. In some experimental 

 beds in which we sowed the same amount of seed on the same 

 area of ground the difference in number of plants produced at 

 the close of the season was more than five to one in favor of 

 the gravel cover. 



