AN AUSTRALIAN STUDY OF AMERICAN FORESTRY. ed 
The unit crew for sowing consists of two men to wheel and spread the 
sand, one to weigh and sow the seed, and two to level off the sand and roll 
the beds. This crew can sow and cover two hundred 12 ft. beds per day. 
Apart from general policy, the nursery managers are given an almost 
free hand, in accordance with the general American habit of non-interference 
with management, and judgment by results. The system makes for progress. 
Detailed cost-keeping records are a feature at the Savenac Nursery. The 
cost of production varies from 12s. to £1 4s. per 1,000 plants, but averages 
16s. 6d., which, with planting at 8 ft. apart, represents an initial expense for 
stock of lls. 2d. per acre. 
With the extension of scientific management throughout all the nursery 
operations, it is expected that this cost will be reduced by a further 25 per 
cent. 
Five thousand one hundred and eighty-seven acres were planted in 1915, 
at an average cost of £1 5s. per acre, including the cost of the stock. 
It is estimated that ultimately this figure will be brought down to £1. 
One thousand five hundred and twenty acres were broadcasted in the 
forest as an experiment at a cost of 13s. 6d. per acre. 
The seed spot method is also being tried out. Direct seeding is done on 
experimental areas chiefly, but is sometimes employed to establish small 
patches of growth on large burns as a basis for subsequent natural regeneration. 
In every district, intensive experiments are required to be made, with a 
view to determining and developing the best methods. 
Forest supervisors are responsible for the effective direction and 
extension of reforestation work. Assistance is furnished by the District 
Forester. 
In District No. 1 this function has been taken over by the Chief of Planting 
at the District Office. 
The leaving of seed trees during logging for the purpose of reforestation 
of cut-over areas by natural regeneration is a general practive in the United 
States of America. Timber sale contracts provide for the ringbarking or felling 
of defective, diseased, or dead trees, -and the burning of débris and brush, and 
grazing is excluded for some years. A close study of cut-over areas is also 
made with a view to developing natural regeneration. 
These, however, are really the only measures of natural regeneration 
adopted, and the growing and planting of nursery stock is the chief fentare of 
the reforestation plan. 
It is laid down that areas, which are not satisfactorily restocked within 
ten years from the date of cutting are to be taken up as planting projects. 
Operations are restricted at present to the most favourable areas, with a 
view to developing successful methods capable of application to less favoured 
sites. 
When the most suitable areas are not known- definitely a planting 
reconnaissance is made before any other work is undertaken. Its basis is a 
strip survey disclosing the location, size, and accessibility of the area, its 
soil, elevation, aspect, climatic factors, and present cover; the species, 
methods, and seasons promising the best results ; and the size and organisation 
of the most efficient crew and the estimated cost of the project. - 
