FOREST NURSERIES AND NURSERY METHODS IN EUROPE. 223 



Ammoniated superphosphate is scattered broadcast over the beds in June, 

 twenty grammes per square meter, preferably just before a rainfall. It may be 

 added a second time a month later, but usually this is not necessary. In autumn 

 moss is laid between the rows to keep the seedlings from heaving; if a supply 

 of moss cannot be obtained conveniently, dead leaves are used for the same 

 purpose. This covering is removed the next spring, as soon as the danger from 

 frost is over. 



Seedlings are transplanted when one year old, as they grow better than when 

 left in the seed bed until they are two years old, and the transplanting is less 

 expensive. The seedlings are put into water when lifted from the seed bed to 

 prevent them from drying out in any degree whatever during the transfer. They 

 are set out in the transplant beds two and one half inches apart and in rows five 

 inches apart, just wide enough to permit the use of a hoe in weeding. They are 

 left in the transplant bed two years; but if they are to be used in a plantation 

 on grassy land they are held there one year more, or until they are four years old, 



The nursery near Annathal has a rectangular area of 100 by 138 feet, sloping 

 slightly to the southeast. The natural soil is a fertile loam, enriched by a liberal 

 admixture with forest humus and supplemented annually with mineral fertilizers. 



In the ground plan the beds are laid out sixty-five feet long and three and 

 one quarter feet wide. A walk, three feet in width, runs across the middle of 

 the plot and around its sides at the fence. Long paths, twenty-two in number and 

 a foot wide each, separate the beds, with one wide path down the middle. 



The seedlings in the germination beds, one and two years old,* are in rows 

 running across the beds, the seed having been sown in furrows or depressed lines, 

 not broadcast over the entire surface as practiced in many European nurseries. 

 But the transplants are set out in rows running lengthwise of the beds, six rows 

 in a bed. The coniferous species propagated in this nursery consist entirely of 

 Norway spruce and Scotch pine. In a small portion of the enclosure there are some 

 thrifty broad-leaved plants — horse chestnut, European alder and speckled alder. 



Another nursery, in an adjoining range on the road to Liebenstein, has an area 

 of 120 by 150 feet, and is situated on ground sloping to the south, where it is 

 bordered on that side by a clearing of ten acres or more. The other three sides 

 are closely hemmed in by a dense forest. The beds are three and one quarter by 

 fifty feet, containing five rows of plants, lengthwise, mostly Norway spruce. 

 Quite a large area, comparatively, is occupied by sycamore maples, three years old. 



In making a forest plantation in Thuringia the transplants are set out by 

 women mostly, who work for one and one half marks per day of ten hours. The 



*Seed beds are made each year. 



