RAISING EVERGREENS FROM SEED. 23 



mention later. Prepare the ground thoroughly, level it down 

 carefully, and sow the seed at the rate of a pbund to an 

 8x8 foot space. If the seeds are very small much more space 

 will be needed. Cover the seed with river sand or sand and 

 loam. In a close pen like this there will be but little evapora- 

 tion. Tou can remove the lalh squares for watering and weed- 

 ing, and then replace them. Tou have two advantages, by this 

 temporary screen system. The drip from' the high screen is 

 often a serious miStter, and by this plan you can have fresh 

 ground for each planting. In this way I have raised immense 

 quantities of fine trees and could dig up a. hundred at a single 

 spadeful. 



If you have plenty of screen room you can transplant when 

 the trees .are two years old. Have them covered the first year 

 and uncover the second year. Then put them in the open for 

 a couple of years, and they are ready to sell or to plant, as you 

 like. Please note these points; Ponderosa Pine, Concolor Fir, 

 and other beautiful evergreens, grow in the Sierras and on the 

 Western Slope, but you cannot grow them in the Bast or Cen- 

 tral West. The finest evergreens in all the world grow on the 

 Western Slope, but let them alone. One of the leading nurseries 

 of Pennsylvania, some thirty years ago, secured a fine lot of 

 seed and had a good stand of plants, and had great hopes of 

 them, but when they were about four years old there came 

 one of those mysterious northwest death waves which wiped 

 them from the earth. I think there are a few Sequoias grow- 

 ing in Rochester, New York, and I think there are some in dif- 

 ferent portions of the East, but they are uncertain and by no 

 means can they be made to grow in the blistering suns of the 

 West. Time and again collected trees, handled with the great- 

 est care, have been planted in Nebraska, but one might as well 

 try to raise oranges. On the other hand, trees from the east- 

 ern slope of the Rockies do remarkably well on our western 

 prairies. For remember that vast system of mountains was 

 lifted out of the great burning plains and the climate and con- 

 ditions are much alike. This is the case also with trees from 

 the Black Hills. They generally do well on the western prairies. 

 So if you want to raise White Spruce get the seed or trees 

 from the Black Hills. Those raised from seed grown in Maine 

 cannot grow in Minnesota or Nebraska to advantage. For the 

 extreme north and Manitoba secure seed and trees from the 

 northern forests. Going on the oars west of Winnipeg I saw 

 beautiful White Spruce growing in the dunes of drifting sands. 

 They were self-planted and in several instances those trees 

 had been planted around the homes on the bleak prairies. They 

 were doing well, but because they are a success in Manitoba 

 don't think you can move themi into Kansas or Oklahoma, for 

 there they would sunburn. You cannot move southern Conifirs 

 far north. The beautiful long leafed pine of Alabama is not 



