FOREST, FISH AXD GAME COMMISSIONER. 75 



the germination of the seed to any extent, for in a test made at the Saranac 

 nursery it was found that this process was not injurious. A seed-bed, 

 set apart for this purpose, was sown with coated seed, and though the 

 sprouts were somewhat inferior in number to those in the adjoining beds, 

 the difference was so slight that the mineral coating had evidently little 

 or nothing to do with it. 



The nursery at Saranac Inn railroad station has been highly success- 

 ful. The fine appearance of the stock, its superior appointments, and the 

 well-kept condition of the beds have elicited words of high commendation 

 from the various foresters from other states who made long journeys 

 expressly to see this nursery. Considerable expense was incurred in estab- 

 lishing a permanent plant, in obtaining muck and other fertilizing material, 

 in building a fence and toolhouse, and in the construction of a complete 

 irrigation system. But these improvements having been made, the cost 

 of maintenance hereafter will be reduced to the minimum. 



All the stock in the east half of this nursery was taken up last fall and 

 sent to the plantations which were being made at that time. The ground 

 thus vacated was graded again, after which it received a liberal applica- 

 tion of black muck, horse manure, and hardwood ashes. These fertilizers 

 will be plowed under next spring before the beds are made, after which 

 the beds, occupying one-half the nursery, will be filled with two-year-old 

 seedlings, which will remain there undisturbed for two years more. Then 

 they will be sent to the plantations. 



The seed-beds made last spring are in a remarkably fine condition, 

 the seeds sown in them having germinated to such a full extent that each 

 bed, four months after the sowing, was completely filled with a dense mass 

 of seedling growth. Mr. Perley Spaulding, of the Missouri Botanical 

 Gardens, St. Louis, Mo., who visited this nursery for the purpose of study- 

 ing its management and for photographing the beds, described them as 

 containing " an ideal stand of seedlings." 



In one bed only was there any loss from " damping off." This 

 occurred during the warm, humid spell, but its progress was promptly 

 arrested by removing the box frames and screens. The slight current of 

 fresh air thus admitted revived the drooping stems immediately and the 

 injury was confined to a circular area of about twenty inches in diameter. 



