MAKING MONEY OUT OF FORESTRY 71 
narily it is planned to scatter from six hundred to one 
thousand seeds to each square foot, depending upon the 
fertility of the seed. The bed has been thoroughly 
soaked before the seed was scattered and now that the 
seed is evenly distributed it must be covered with a thin 
layer of sterile soil which does not contain any spores 
of the damping-off fungus. Old garden soil is usually 
pretty well inoculated with this disease, so it is better 
to dig down into the ground two to three feet and get 
some soil that has not seen daylight for centuries. This 
is apt to be free from any organisms and if sprinkled 
evenly over the bed by being passed through a sieve 
the fatal disease may be avoided. The spores germinate 
in the very surface of the bed and hence it is the sur- 
face soil which is most important. The beds are then 
covered with a leaf mulch or burlap to keep the light 
out and the moisture in and the cover is ordinarily 
retained from two to three weeks. 
After germination starts the covering must be re- | 
moved immediately or the little trees will smother or 
perish from lack of sunlight. However, too much light 
is dangerous, as they are quite delicate at first, so or- 
dinarily a screen, made by nailing lath one and a half 
inches apart upon thin strips, is kept over them con- 
tinually. 
Weeds must be removed during this first season and 
the beds must be sprinkled from time to time if rainfall 
is scanty. The plan is to provide plenty of plant food 
and moisture and thereby grow a stocky plant with a 
fibrous root system in as little time as possible. On 
damp and cloudy days the screen is removed gradually 
to harden the plants and get them accustomed to full 
sunlight. 
About the latter part of August weeding is stopped, 
