14^ FOURTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE 



and consequently thin tissues in the seedlings result. First we fertilized 

 heavily to secure more vigorous growth and stronger tissues in order that 

 the seedlings would be more resistant. By thorough ventilation in the 

 wire seed box, removing lath shades to dry out beds when necessary, we 

 try to prevent the development of this fungus. If the fungus does develop 

 we use hot sand and dry powders, but scarcely ever liquids, to check the 

 disease. We are now working on an entirely different plan, i. e., to treat 

 the soil before the seeds are sown, in the hope that we can either sterilize 

 the earth or check the development of the fungus until our seedlings are' 

 old enough to be out of danger, should it develop. The whole purpose 

 should be absolutely that of prevention, because the disease once started, 

 is almost impossible to check. The soil that is used to cover the seeds 

 should also be treated, or new soil, secured from a pit, used. 



Covering seed beds in winter has been a problem. The same amount 

 of leaf cover used for successive years did not give uniform results. We 

 found that less covering must be used in winters when there was a deep 

 continuous cover of snow, and that this same amount would not be suffi- 

 cient in an open winter. As we could not determine the weather four 

 months in advance, and the Weather Bureau was not able to advise us, 

 some plan to obviate this difficulty had to be found. We noted that a leaf 

 covering during the winters of heavy snow fall produced a heating and 

 moulding of the seedlings. Hence we had to plan to prevent this trouble, 

 and, at the same time, prevent heaving. We have solved this problem by 

 covering the beds with one thickness of burlaps placed over about two 

 inches of snow. The burlap prevents the melting of the snow and the 

 thawing of the soil underneath, yet is so porous that heating or mould- 

 ing does not occur. It works perfectly and is, for us, cheaper than leaf 

 covering. 



Insect troubles are chiefly confined to attacks of chermes, but we have 

 practically exterminated this from the nursery by using kerosene emulsion. 

 It should be applied after the eggs hatch, and before the woolly mass on 

 their backs is developed, in order to be effective. 



Our next difficulty was in overcoming losses in transplanting. We 

 have reduced our loss, in this respect, to almost a minimum by wetting 

 the soil, if necessary, before planting. Our light sandy soil when sum- 



