50 BULLETIN 1061, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
tions. The seed should be covered lightly by not more than one- 
quarter of an inch of soil. 
The aim should be to get trees growing at regular intervals of 6 
to 8 feet, or from TOO to 1,200 trees per acre. Because of the in- 
evitable loss of some seed and seedlings from various causes, there 
will be a better chance of a good stand, say, at 10 years of age, if 
more than TOO trees are started. Until further knowledge is avail- 
able regarding methods of starting young longleaf stands, it will 
be desirable to make small-scale test sowings under different meth- 
ods, with such variation as may seem advisable to suit local condi- 
tions, in order to determine which is most suitable for more exten- 
sive operations. 
The simplest method of sowing is to broadcast the seed on the land 
to be reforested. This is obviously nature's way, but it requires a 
much larger amount of seed than seed-spotting, since some of the 
seed is more likely to be eaten and the rest fail to germinate success- 
fully. From 2 to 4 pounds may be found necessary for each acre. 
After the sowing, if the land is clear enough, a spike-tooth or 
spring-tooth harrow should be run over it for the purpose of set- 
tling the seed down to the soil. A thin or moderate grass cover 
apparently affords shade and protection of a beneficial nature, but 
heavy grass often keeps the seed from germinating or j)revents the 
seedling from becoming established. 
During the fall of 1920 a large sawmill concern in Louisiana 
collected about 4,000 pounds of seed of longleaf pine and also some 
seed of other species. It was obtained in part from dried cones 
("burrs") picked from trees felled in logging, but mostly by the 
cheaper and more satisfactory method of gathering up cones that 
had opened on the ground after falling, and shaking the seeds out 
into a pan or tub. Incidentally it may be mentioned that the price 
paid to the collectors was 50 cents per pound. The seed was sown 
broadcast, part on plowed strips spaced 8 feet apart, each made up 
of several furrows and afterwards harrowed to work the seed in, and 
part on natural and recently burned-over grass land (PI. XIII). 
An average of 2 pounds of seed per acre was used for sowing the 
furrow strips and 2 to 3 for broadcasting on the grass land. The 
cost for broadcast sowing was 15 cents per pound and for drilling or 
harrowing 32 cents an acre. The plowing was done in the late fall 
by farmers hired after work became slack on the farm. The areas 
seeded were previously fenced against cattle and hogs, and plans 
were immediately made to keep fires out thereafter by means of fire 
lines and other protective measures. 
The planting of longleaf seedlings, because of their very large 
taproots, is likely to be more restricted than that of most other species 
of pine. The possibilities in this line have not yet been fully tested. 
Successful experiments were conducted on a limited scale in eastern 
Xorth Carolina by the Forestry Division of the Xorth Carolina Geo- 
logical Survey. These consisted in planting (or "transplanting") 
in the spring 5-month-old seedlings obtained from freshly gathered 
seed sown in a garden bed the previous October. The soil was shal- 
low, with a firm subsoil, and this produced a taproot not more than 
8 inches in length. At the same time a limited number of 2-year- 
