REFOEESTATION ON THE NATIONAL FORESTS. 
43 
are best where the soil is heavy or rocky or where it is desired to stir 
it to a considerable depth; the rake is good in loose soil where there 
is not a heavy cover of grass and where deep cultivation is not neces- 
sary; and the hazel hoe is good where the soil is not very rocky or 
exceptionally heavy. 
Another seed planter (PL IX, fig. 1) has recently been designed 
which gives promise of being a good tool for this work where the sod 
is not too heavy. Its construction in principle is that of a removable 
soil-preparing tool such as the mattock, rake, or hoe, attached to a 
hollow iron handle, which serves as a receptacle for seed. Through 
a system of openings at the lower end of the handle which are opened 
and closed by means of a sliding rod and lever operated by one hand 
of the worker, the seed are distributed on the spot as it is prepared 
with the rake or hoe attachment. By continuing the operation of 
raking or hoeing, the seed can also be covered. In an experimental 
trial it has proved more rapid than the common garden rakes, but 
not quite so rapid as the corn planter. One man prepared 4,830 spots 
per eight-hour day. When using small seed (lodgepole pine) it has 
proved much more economical of seed than the corn-planter method 
or that of scattering seed by hand on the seed spots. Its weight of 
about 5 pounds when empty of seed is an advantage in preparing 
spots in heavy or sodded soils, but becomes burdensome to the opera- 
tor. Fairly clean seed is necessary, as the presence of foreign 
matter larger than the seed itself is likely to prevent successful opera- 
tion of the tool. 
In the trials which have been made of the tool some imperfections 
have been noted. A portion of the large seed is likely to be cut. In 
a trial given it with maritime-pine seed, about 5 per cent were 
injured in this manner. Small seed are injured very little, if any. 
The tool has not been found as satisfactory as the mattock in heaA^y 
turf. It has been found that the seed can not be scattered satisfac- 
torily at the same time as the tool is being drawn toward the opera- 
tor, unless it is carefull}^ handled, because the seed before strildng 
the ground is struck by the tool itself and scattered outside of the 
prepared spot. 
Numerous corn planters have been tried, and there are several 
objections to the use of those commonly found on the market. Some 
have a soft snout, which is knocked out of shape by rocks and is con- 
stantly in need of repair, some can not be adjusted to sow the proper 
amount of seed or to sow it at the right depth, some are not strongly 
enough constructed to hold together under the rough usage which 
they get, and some are so heavy as to be cumbersome. 
