WHITE PINE UNDEB FOREST MANAGEMENT. 51 
and aii* should be further excluded from the beds by tacking some 
light covering, like building paper, around the frames and banking 
earth about the bases. 
Seed should not be sown in the beds until after the frost is out of 
the ground and all danger of freezing weather is past. Sowing may- 
be done when garden vegetables are planted, but if delayed until 
too late the tender seedlings may succumb to heat. It is better, 
however, to sow too late than too early. Germination is normally 
very slow, and two or three months may elapse before it is completed. 
From every pound of fertile seed about 12,000 plants may be expected. 
When the germination period is past the beds should be examined 
from time to time, and a few days after the seedlings have begun 
to appear the paper and the loose laths should be removed from the 
shade screens. Unless this is done there is danger of poor develop- 
ment and damping-off. The latter is a very dangerous fungus disease 1 
which may destroy all the seedlings in a bed during the first year. 
It develops most rapidly in moist and shady places and in wet soil. 
Good preventives are thorough ventilation and drying out. For this 
reason the shade frames should be entirely removed from the beds 
on overcast or damp days. The wire screen should be left on at all 
times except when work is being done. 
In dry weather the beds should be sprinkled lightly about sunset. 
The partial shade given by the lath frames is necessary only during 
the summer of the first year, during hot, dry days, to protect the 
tender seedlings from sun scald and wilting and the beds from drying 
out. "While the frames should be used also to protect the seedlings 
from heavy rains, they should be removed afterwards to permit the 
soil to dry out. 
Toward fall the shade frames should be removed permanently, in 
order that the seedlings may harden up for the winter. The wire 
screens may also be removed at that time. After the first fall of snow 
the seedlings should be covered with a thickness of burlap, which 
should be left on the beds until the following spring. 
Little care is necessary during the second summer other than to 
keep weeds out and supply the seedlings with water during very 
dry weather. Ordinarily no protection against birds and rodents is 
needed, nor is it necessary to cover the 2-year old seedlings for the 
winter. 
To secure 2-1 stock the seedlings should be transplanted in the 
spring of the third year. In doing this care should be taken not to 
injure the roots or stems. The spade should be forced deep enough 
into the ground to get to the bottom of the roots, and the soil which 
adheres should be carefully shaken off. The seedlings should either be 
1 Suggestions for the prevention of damping-off are given in Bureau of Plant Industry Circular -A, "The 
Treatment of Damping-off in Coniferous Seedlings," by Dr. Perley Spaulding. 
