TJTE FARM NURSERY. 285 



When the soil is moist in the fall, the seeds of all trees which ripen after midsummer may be 

 planted, and thus the labor of storing is saved. l>ut spring planting is usually more satisfactory, 

 because uniform conditions can be better maintained where the seeds have been properly stored. 

 The soil is also usually in the best condition for receiving the seeds in the spring, and lighter 

 covering is possible. 



It must be remembered that the seed of the oaks, nuts, and cherries must not be permitted to 

 become thoroughly dry. Chestnut, beech, and the oaks are especially delicate in this respect, so 

 that with these species it is always safest to plant as soon as the seed is ripe. 



The forest- tree nursery should be placed in deep, moist, well-drained loam, and should be 

 thoroughly cultivated. 



It should be so arranged as to reduce hand work to a minimum. All the tree seeds except 

 birch and the conifers, which must be grown under screens, can be sown in drills, 3 or 4 feet apart, 

 thus making horse cultivation possible. 



Hand weeding is important, for the tiny seedlings of many trees are very delicate, and the 

 more vigorous grasses will quickly choke them out if left unprotected. Where a large nursery is 

 made, frequent use of the harrow-toothed cultivator is most desirable, for it keeps a dust blanket 

 on the surface of the soil which prevents excessive evaporation and insures the most perfect soil 

 conditions obtainable through culture. Prompt attention is a requisite of successful nursery 

 management. 



Seedlings of box elder, silver maple, red maple, catalpa, black locust, and cottonwood are 

 rampant growers the first season, and their growth may be checked, to make transplanting less 

 difficult, by sowing the seed thick in broad drills. Black wild cherry, the elm, the ash, honey 

 locust, black walnut, tulip, crab apple, hackberry, linden, and coffee tree are of moderate growth 

 and easily attain transplanting size the first year. The oaks and the nut trees generally, hard 

 maple, beech, and hawthorn will usually be benefited by remaining two or three years in the 

 nurseiy. The birches should be transplanted from the seed bed to the nursery row the second 

 year, and set in permanent forest the third. 



While the cone bearing trees are more difficult to manage than the broad-leafed species, it will 

 be found advantageous to the farmer to grow his own conifers. Not only are coniferous trees 

 (pines, spruces, cedars, larches, etc.) more difficult to transplant, but they are disastrously affected 

 by the drying of their roots; and in the operations of commercial nurseries — digging, storing, and 

 packing — as well as in transit, there is more or less danger from this cause. It will frequently 

 happen, too, that plants thus injured, unless the injury be very severe indeed, will appear in good 

 condition when received, so that the purchaser accepting them will be disappointed in his stand, 

 whatever care he takes in planting the stock. Even should the cost of growing the cone-bearing 

 trees be more than it would cost to purchase them, as will often be the case if the time of the 

 grower be considered, the trees will prove cheaper in the end, because favorable weather can be 

 chosen for transplanting them; they can be dug as needed, and absolutely protected from drying 

 out during the brief interval between digging and planting. 



Farmers living adjacent to the pineries can easily secure seed by gathering the cones just 

 before they burst open and spreading them in a thin layer until sufficiently dry to open, when the 

 seed will fall out. The same method is used in securing all seeds save the red cedar, the fruit of 

 which is a gummy berry. The benies of the cedar should be soaked for several days in water, 

 then rubbed together to remove as much of the gum as possible, when they may be planted or 

 mixed in sand and kept frozen during winter. A bath in weak lye will hasten the cleaning process. 

 The seeds of the remaining conifers are kept dry over winter. They can be purchased of leading 

 seedsmen throughout the country, and, as a rule, come true to name, though difficulty regarding 

 the Rocky Mountain species is sometimes experienced. As seeds lose their vitality to a consider- 

 able degree the second year, and to a much greater degree thereafter, it is important to secure 

 them fresh. 



A well-drained, preferably sandy, loam should be chosen and the seed bed prepared as is usual 

 for cold frames, so that as soon as the seed is planted the bed can be shaded. It should be open to 

 the air on all sides, and the seed may be sown broadcast in the bed, or in drills a few inches apart. 

 The seed should be covered but little, if any, more than its own depth. Pine, spruce, and Douglas 

 spruce seed usually germinates in eighteen to twenty days, red cedar in two to six months, and 



