20 BULLETIN 475, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGKICULTUEE. 
not yet passed through the three-year trial period tend to show that 
success may be expected on from 75 to 100 per cent of the areas cov- 
ered, provided the operations are conducted during the right season 
and suitable stock is used. To determine these points, as in direct 
seeding, intensive experimental work is being conducted on the 
National Forests in addition to extensive forest ation operations. 
As the Forest Service nurseries have developed and planting stock 
has been produced more abundantly, planting operations have gradu- 
ally increased in scope. During the fiscal year ending June 30, 
1914, 9.400,000 seedlings or transplants grown in Forest Service 
nurseries were planted, the operations covering 14,063 acres in 
western United States and being carried on under a wide range of 
conditions. 
SOWING AND PLANTING METHODS. 
The methods followed in forest sowing and planting should be 
governed, first, by the success, and, second, by the economy which 
attends them. "\¥hen the Forest Service began this work in the 
West, there was no experience to indicate how operations could be 
successfully conducted. Numerous methods have been tried, with 
varying degrees of success ; but it can not yet be said that those best 
adapted to the several regions and many different soil and climatic 
conditions in the West have been entirely worked out. A good start 
has been made, however, and a number of these methods will, accord- 
ingly, be discussed. 
Sowing. 
broadcasting. 
In broadcasting, seed are scattered by hand or by the use of a 
mechanical sower in much the same manner as gi'ain. The best 
practice is to go over the whole area and sow half the seed ; then to 
traverse it again at right angles to the previous courses and sow the 
other half. This insures a more even distribution of the seed. 
Large or medium-sized seed, such as sugar pine or western yellow 
pine, can be sown by hand; but small seed, such as lodgepole pine, 
larch, and spruce, can be handled better with a mechanical seed 
sower. When very small seed are used, they can be scattered more 
uniformly by mixing them with fine, dry earth. 
In general the rugged topography of the country, the inaccessi- 
bility of the planting sites, or the presence of dead and down timber 
makes preparation of the ground by such methods as plowing or har- 
rowing impossible. In only a comparatively few cases has it been 
done. In deciding upon the best method of preparing the ground for 
sowing, the surface, slope, and character of the gi'ound cover, as 
well as the species to be sown, must be considered. Some of the 
