154 MISC. PUBLICATION 4 3 4, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



smaller than normal, and a rather high cull percent will result. A low 

 production of usable trees will result in an excessively high cost per 

 thousand for the plantable trees. Consequently, an adequate irriga- 

 tion system is a prime essential to uniform production of high quality 

 nursery stock at minimum cost, and over a period of years will pay for 

 itself many times. 



In the Federal nurseries in the plains region, it has been found that 

 the cost of 2-year-old stock is only about 25 percent higher than the 

 cost of 1 -year-old stock. This narrow margin is due largely to the fact 

 that blocks of 2-year-old stock invariably run considerably higher in 

 production of usable stock per acre. 



The costs of seed and of 1-0 stock in several Federal nurseries in 

 South Dakota and Nebraska are given in table 26. 



Table 26. — Average seed and nursery costs in several nurseries in South Dakota and 



Nebraska 



Species 



Cost of 

 clean seed 

 per pound 



Cost of 1-0 2 



nursery 

 stock per M 



Cost of 

 Species clean seed 

 per pound 



Cost of 1-0 2 



nursery 

 stock per M 





$0.37 

 .24 



> 2.44 



.58 



> 1.89 



$5.38 

 4.87 

 6.65 

 5.93 

 4.94 



Plum 



$0. 76 

 .29 

 .49 

 .07 

 1.06 

 1.02 



$7.82 





8.06 





Honeylocust 



Bur oak._ _ ______ 



6.75 





10.64 







3.67 





.78 





5.52 













i Collection costs abnormally high because of poor seed crop. Collection of seed in good years will cost not 

 over 20 to 30 percent of the figures given. 

 2 1-year seedlings not transplanted before field planting. 



These costs, of course, apply to actual costs as obtained for govern- 

 ment nurseries and are not to be regarded as a yardstick for selling 

 price of seed or nursery stock by commercial concerns, which have 

 advertising and sales costs, local, State, and Federal taxes, and other 

 costs to meet. Moreover, commercial nurserymen must also consider 

 fluctuating market demands and make allowance for margin of profit. 



The costs of stock given in table 26 include all expenses involved 

 in growing, digging, and shipping the stock, such as cost of seed, labor, 

 land rental, supervision, equipment operation and depreciation, 

 supplies, and proportionate share of state and regional overhead. 

 The costs of stock are considered good averages for normal conditions, 

 except in the case of chokecherry, which is high because of loss due to 

 the shot hole disease which is somewhat difficult to detect in time to 

 apply effective remedial sprays. 



The above costs are on the basis of production of usable seedlings, 

 that is, stock which is at least % 2 -mch caliper at the root collar. 

 Trees below that size, and not carried over in the nurseries for an 

 additional year, were discarded, and consequently bear no part of the 

 cost. The minimum acceptable specifications of nursery stock will 

 markedly affect cost, because with the rigid grading specifications 

 used by the Forest Service, the percent of cull in the average block 

 of broadleaf nursery stock often runs from 20 to 50 percent. Any 

 reduction in the grading standard cited above will result in lower cost 

 per thousand, but cost of stock is not the most important consideration 

 in successful shelterbelt planting. The goal of all Forest Service 

 planting in the prairie-plains is to obtain a minimum cost per surviving 



