Conservation Commission 103 



and a total of fifty acres is now used. The two nurseries at Sar- 

 anac Inn have been retained under cover crops in order to suffi- 

 ciently enrich the soil. This plan of rotation of crops for the pur- 

 pose of fertilization by means of leguminous crops is being ap- 

 plied to all of our nurseries. 



During the past year a small nursery established by the State 

 College of Forestry at Syracuse, was taken over by this commis- 

 sion. This nursery is operated the same as the other nurseries, 

 except that it is supervised by a member of the faculty of the col- 

 lege. The college is benefited, in that the students receive practi- 

 cal experience and instruction in nursery work. 



A radical change has been made in spacing of transplants in 

 the nurseries. It has been the practice to plant the trees in rows 

 running crosswise in beds six feet wide and usually fifty feet long. 

 The trees were set three inches apart in the row and the rows six 

 inches apart. Under the new system the small beds have been 

 abandoned and the trees are set in large blocks and planted one 

 and one-half inches apart in the row, while the distance between 

 the rows has been widened from six to nine inches. This gives 

 greater chance for root development, facilitates cultivation; and, 

 owing to the fact that more trees can be grown upon the same 

 area, the cost of weeding is reduced. During the year important 

 developments have been made in the line of hardwood seedling 

 production. The demand for Carolina poplar cuttings is very 

 steadily increasing. A large number of these cuttings were set in 

 our nurseries, and next year, for the first time, we will be able to 

 supply rooted cuttings which will be far more successful. Our 

 nurseries now contain quantities of white ash, tulip, red oak, and 

 black locust seedlings. The increase in seed beds which we made 

 two or three years ago is now commencing to materially increase 

 our output. As a result, we will be able to supply practically all 

 of the demands for stock. The large increase in supply will con- 

 sist of three-year-old white pine transplants, three-year-old red 

 pine transplants and three-year-old Norway spruce transplants. 



Sale of Teees 

 The accompanying table shows the number of trees which kas 

 been sold from 1908, the be^innino: of this work, to date, classi- 



