FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSIONER. 151 



three-inch coat of manure. The sixth and last row had an application of 

 fully five inches of well-rotted barn manure. These fertilizers were all 

 worked into the- soil and thoroughly mixed, except for the first bed where 

 the muck was applied one foot deep. The seeds sown in the spring of 1908 

 have produced plants which are now equivalent to two-year-old seedlings. 

 The results are as follows: 



Wherever muck was mixed with the soil, seedlings are smaller and 

 have a poorer color than on the check, except in the bed where muck was 

 used without soil, and here it compares favorably with the check. The 

 more manure that was used, the better the seedlings and the finer their 

 coloring. Muck and manure mixed did not produce as good seedlings as 

 where the same quantity of manure was used alone. Where the bed was 

 made with muck and no soil very favorable results were secured. This 

 series of beds had the fertilizer experiment running one way across the plot, 

 and in the opposite direction ran a line of beds sown with the same species. 

 White and Scotch pine were sown on all of these different soil tests. When 

 the seedlings were one year old a top dressing of finely ground bone meal 

 was applied to one-third of each bed. The effect of this top dressing is 

 most striking, especially on the beds where little or no manure was used. 

 The seedlings on muck responded least, but on the check an additional 

 growth of fully two inches was secured, while on the beds where the moderate 

 quantity of manure was applied a gain of at least three inches was made 

 over that portion of the bed where the meal was not applied. There was 

 also a great difference in color, those where the meal was applied being far 

 greener and brighter. This was true for the pine ; but the bone meal killed 

 from one-fourth to one-tenth of the spruce, depending upon the species. 

 I would earnestly recommend that bone meal top dressing be applied to the 

 one-year-old pine seedlings if they are going to remain in the seed bed a 

 second year; but it should not be applied to spruce. 



Another series of fertilizer experiments was started last spring, 1908, 

 with chemical fertilizers entirely. A quantity of fine ground bone meal, 

 acid phosphate and muriate of potash was secured and applied in varying 

 amounts. Knowing that nitrogen increases root and foliage development, 

 that acid phosphate hastens maturity, and potash increases root develop- 

 ment, three kinds of fertilizers were mixed as follows : 



