FORESTRY COMMISSION. 37 



Ihe southeast corner of the northwest of the southeast one-quarter of 

 section ;>5 of town 25 nortli range 4 west on a spot of about four acres, 

 selected and partly used in an attempt at some experiment in this same 

 ■direction. The laud was neglected worse than raw land, full of stumps, 

 and what was far worse for this enterprise, impoverished and full of 

 weeds, including the mischievous trailing blackberry whose roots are 

 alraost indestructible. A large amount of work was done in grubbing, 

 fencing and preparing the land. 



A small portion of the tract was specijilly treated, given a liberal dose 

 of one of Swift's fertilizers and then laid out in seed beds, 4x40 feet. 

 The following seeds were planted : 



13 lbs. White Pine. 



10 " Scotch Pine. 



15 " Norway Spruci\ 



% lb. Nut Pine (European). 



i/o " Sugar Pine. 



1/2 " "\'\'estern "White Pine. 



1 '• Western YelloAv Pine. 



Y', "' Norway Pine. 



i/o " Pitch Pine. 



i/o " Big Tree. 



Vo " Western Cedar. 



i/o " Jack Pine. 



It was the intention to use more of Norway Pine, but the seed was 

 Tiot to be had in the market. The seed was put in under difficulties. The 

 soil had to be worked .I'ust before seeding, and the dry weather had made 

 -a perfect dust bed of the upper layer, about two inches deep. To secure 

 any results at all this had to be overcome. The dust was raked back, 

 "the half dry soil beloAv this was watered at once with sprinkling can, 

 the seed sown broad cast, the moist covering earth, specially prepared 

 and mixed with fertilizer was then sifted on in a thin layer and the whole 

 bed at once covered with straw before the hot sun had a chance to dry 

 out the soil. In this way the seeds were all put in ; closely watched and 

 as soon as they began to peep through the covering layer of earth, the 

 ^traw was removed and the beds were screened. The spruce were covered 

 with over-head (high) screens, while all the rest were covered with low 

 movable screens, mostly- of lath frames. 



Much of the seed proved of rather inferior quality, quite in keeping 

 Avilh the scarcity of coniferous seeds during the last few years. Never- 

 theless much of it came up in good shape. Considerable damage was done 

 by birds but far more by the ordinary striped gopher which proved quite 

 a pest and in spite of shot gun completely destroyed all seeds of nut and 

 sugar pine and much of white T)ine. 



(Further destruction of this sort and from mice it is the intention to 

 «top by suitable screen fencing around all seed beds.) 



By far the most ti-ouble, however, lay in the weedy condition of the 

 soil, and besides a large amount of labor, the weeds cost thousands of 

 T;)lants, over shaded, crowded, or pulled up in the efforts to weed. This 

 «vil, of course, will be reduced to a minimum as soon as the seed bed 

 grounds are in a proper slate of cultivation. 



