FOREST NURSERIES AND NURSERY METHODS IN EUROPE. 23I 



For large orders (50,000 to 100,000) a satisfactory discount is made from the 

 above figures; but the price-lists of the nurserymen vary at times, influenced by a 

 surplus stock or scarcity of the particular species quoted. The plants, wrapped in 

 damp moss, are packed for shipment in large baskets, or in crates constructed 

 of open willow-work, and an extra charge is made for packing and packages. On 

 shipments to the United States there is a tariff of twenty-five per cent ad valorem, 

 which together with the freight and the risk in transportation — the long time 

 in which the plants are packed — renders an importation a somewhat doubtful 

 expedient.' 



The methods employed in the commercial nurseries are substantially the same 

 as in the nurseries belonging to the forest reviers; but more attention is paid 

 to minor details. The supply of seed, however, is purchased from salesmen instead 

 of collecting it from the forest. The seeds of all needle-trees are kept during winter 

 in sacks, stored in a cool place, but the seed is not mixed with sand as advised in 

 some textbooks. The sowing is done in April and May. 



The Halstenbek nurseries are on level ground, at an altitude of only thirty-two 

 feet above tide. The seed beds are made of black soil — a good loam that will 

 not fall apart if pressed in the hand. Manure from the streets of Hamburg is 

 used largely as a fertilizer, and it is scattered over the ground in winter. 



The seed beds are mostly four feet wide and about sixty-five feet long. 

 Broadcast sowing is the rule, in order to obtain a fuller utilization of the soil. 

 If the seeds when tested show a high percentage of germination, they are sown 

 so that the grains lie about one quarter of an inch apart; if the seed is poor it is 

 sown more thickly. The coniferous plants are not screened; but in time of 

 drought the beds are sprinkled, some of the nurseries having installed an irriga- 

 tion plant for this purpose. 



White pine, Norway spruce, balsam (Abies balsameci) and silver fir are left in 

 the seed beds until two years old; sometimes the firs are left still another year. 

 Scotch pine can be left in the seed bed only one year with safety, as the plants 

 are liable to suffer from "schutte,'' a fungous disease that is developed in this 

 species by the crowded condition of the seedlings in the second year. 



White pine and Norway spruce, when transplanted, are set two inches apart 

 in the row, if the plants are to remain there only one year; but they must be 

 placed farther apart if they are to remain a longer time in order to permit of 

 their increased growth. The rows are made with spaces of six inches between 

 them, or wider if the plants are to stand there two years. These simple 

 requirements must be observed in order to secure thrifty plants and to avoid 

 crowding in the beds. 



