FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSIONER. 87 



cannot do much planting and do it economically. Hence we bought no 

 stock, and used only the output of our nurseries. A part of these plants 

 were sent to the Chub Hill and Ray Brook plantations to make good the 

 losses incurred by the fall planting done in 1905. Such, in brief, is a resume 

 of our reforesting operations for the last five years. 



The question naturally arises here, How much does it cost per acre 

 to make a forest tree plantation ? The answer depends largely on the num- 

 ber of trees per acre which are set out, and that again on the spacing. If 

 the plants are placed at intervals of six feet, in rows six feet apart, there 

 would be 1,210 trees to the acre, assuming that there were no obstacles on 

 the ground to prevent the planting of the entire area. By using stock from 

 the State nurseries the plants will cost when set out in the fields half a cent 

 on the average, including both the propagation and the planting, or $6.05 

 per acre. But in planting a tract of several hundred acres the number of 

 plants used, and the average cost per acre, would be materially less because 

 of the numerous small areas which cannot be planted owing to swampy or 

 rocky condition or to scattered thickets of second growth. The planta- 

 tion at "West Harrietstown, made in 1902, was spaced at six feet for the 

 greater part of the tract and cost between five and six dollars per acre. 

 Subsequent work done with smaller intervals and a greater number of plants 

 per acre cost proportionately more. 



"We intend to do our planting hereafter, to some extent at least, at five- 

 feet intervals. W T e shall adopt this spacing, however, for evergreen or 

 coniferous species only. Where we undertake any reforesting with hard- 

 woods or broad-leaved species we shall space them at intervals of seven 

 feet or more. Pine and spruce have such a tendency to throw out branches 

 all the way down to the ground that the young trees of such species must 

 be crowded enough to force a proper height growth at the start, and, by 

 bringing their crown covers together as soon as possible secure a density 

 and shade that will induce them to shed the lower limbs. Our tree planting 

 is done for the purpose of raising merchantable timber, trees of maximum 

 height with clean trunks free from limbs. Such trees furnish the best logs 

 and most valuable lumber. The shedding of the lower limbs, caused by 

 crowding, enables the tree to take on wood clear of knots; then, having 

 attained as great a height as possible by these means, it can be left to exert 



