NURSERY PRACTICE ON THE NATIONAL FORESTS. 
Table 2. — Area 1 of transplant beds, in square feet, neeessary to produce 
1,000,000 transplants yearly. 
Length of time in transplant beds. 
Spacings, in inches, in transplant beds. 
lby 5. 
lby 6. 
1 by 8. 
3 by 4. 
Area in square feet. 2 
1 year 
34, 722 
69, 444 
41,666 
83,332 
55,555 
111,110 
83,333 
166, 667 
1 Add 25 per cent in seed beds and from 10 to 20 per cent in transplant beds to allow for losses. 
2 1 acre= 43,560 square feet. 
Because of differences in topography, in the characteristics of the 
soil, and possibly in the requirements of the species, the form of a 
nursery will vary as the location varies. Generally speaking, an 
area either square or rectangular, with the two adjoining sides not 
differing much in length, is the best form. The topography of 
the area often makes it impossible to lay out a nursery according to 
a preconceived plan. The necessity of following the base of a hill 
or avoiding rocky patches of ground may make regularity of outline 
inadvisable. The nursery should not be made up of a number of 
small individual areas. They may not admit of plowing and culti- 
vating and may necessitate preparation by hand, a slow and expen- 
sive operation. Two or three larger areas widely separated do not 
make a good nursery because of the time lost in passing from one 
section to the other. 
If uniform soil conditions exist throughout the nursery, there 
need be little choice as to the location of seed and transplant beds, 
except as a matter of convenience. Where uniformity does not exist, 
it is advisable to locate the seed beds in the portion having the better 
soil. Seedlings come up in close stands in the seed beds, so that 
they make greater demands upon the soil and are more subject to ill 
effects from poor soil than transplants, which have better conditions 
of growth. Where differences in soil, protection, or other conditions 
exist in the nursery area, it is also desirable to arrange the beds so 
that the hardiest species will occupy the most trying situations. 
Thus western yellow pine can be grown to better advantage in stony 
portions or those most likely to dry out rapidly than can spruce, 
and spruce and fir should be grown where they would have the 
advantage of any natural shade. This phase of nursery practice is 
not of great importance, however, since the conditions can be so 
changed artificially that any of the species can be made to thrive in 
any part of the nursery. Where it is necessary to shade either the 
seedlings or transplants, the beds should have their long axes east 
and west. 
