68 BULLETIN 544, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
spruce is of advantage during the period when it is becoming estab- 
lished. Where each tree represents an investment, however, the 
nurse cover must not be allowed to interfere with the seedling's nor- 
mal development. 
Casts. — The following cost data for red spruce are based on the 
experience of the State of New York in its reforestation operations : 
Average market price of spruce seed (ranging in price from $3 to $7). per pound . . $4. 50 
Cost of collecting seed $0. 90- 1. 50 
Cost per thousand to raise 2-year-old seedlings (based on 500,000 seedlings annu- 
ally) 1. 33 
Three-year-old transplants 3; 23 
Four-year-old transplants 3. 73 
The cost per acre of making plantations, using various aged stock 
and different spacings was as follows: Using 2-year-old seedlings 
spaced 4 by 4 feet apart (2,722 trees per acre), $11.79; spaced 5 by 5 
feet (1,742 trees per acre), $7.54; spaced 6 by 6 feet (1,210 trees per 
acre), $5.24; using 3-year-old transplants spaced 4 by 4 feet, $19.41; 
spaced 5 by 5 feet, $12.42; spaced 6 by 6 feet, $8.63; using 4-year-old 
transplants spaced 4 by 4 feet, $22.67; spaced 5 by 5 feet, $14.51; 
spaced 6 by 6 feet, $10.08. No allowance is made in the above fig- 
ures on planting for the cost of transporting the seedlings from the 
nursery to the planting site, since it is too variable. 
SOURCES OF PLANTING STOCK. 
i 
Because of the slow growth in early life of red spruce planting 
stock, it is difficult to handle both in nursery transplanting and in 
the field where 2-year seedlings are used. This unquestionably will 
be a strong factor in limiting the planting of this species, since both 
white and Norway spruce (Picea canadensis and P. excelsa) are much 
more satisfactory in this respect. For small operations, the purchase 
of planting stock will usually be cheaper than the raising of home- 
grown stock. Where extensive planting is to be undertaken, how- 
ever, the field planting and nursery work can be coordinated to 
advantage and placed under the direction of an experienced manager, 
in which event a local nursery is desirable, 1 
The use of wild seedlings of this species, if collected as they occur 
in the woods without selection and transplanted directly to the per- 
manent site, would yield very irregular and unsatisfactory results. 
Such stock would be of all sizes and of various ages from 1 to 10 
or 15 years, with poorly developed, widely ramifying root systems 
and spindly tops. More uniform results would be obtained if the 
seedlings were set in nursery fines for a year, and a careful selec- 
tion and grading made possible. The wild transplants would still be 
1 A detailed description of the subject of raising and planting coniferous seedlings will be found in 
Bulletiin 76, Forest Service, U. S. Department of Agriculture, "How to Grow and Plant Conifers in the 
Northeastern States." 
