FOREST PLANTING IX THE LAKE STATES 
47 
Table 5. — Costs- of planting different species by slitrfurrow, slit, and hole 
methods with different spacing 
Trees 
set per 
man per 
day 
Cost of 
setting 
per 1,000 
trees i 
Cost per acre according to 
spacing 2 
Planting stock and method of planting 
5 by 5 
feet 
6 by 6 
feet 
8 by 8 
feet 
Jack pine, 1-0 stock at $1.50 per M: 
Number 
2,000 
1,200 
600 
2,000 
1,200 
600 
1,500 
1,000 
450 
$2.50 
4.00 
8.00 
2.50 
4.00 
8.00 
3.00 
4.50 
10.50 
$7.96 
9.57 
16.53 
10.57 
12.18 
19. 14 
14.92 
16.53 
26.97 
$5.69 
6.66 
11.50 
7.50 
8.47 
13.31 
10.53 
11.50 
IS. 76 
$3.57 
3.74 
6.46 
Norway pine, 2-0 stock at $3 per M: 
4.39 
4.76 
7.48 
Northern white pine, white spruce, and Norway 
spruce 2-1 stock at $5 per M: 
6.09 
6.46 
10.54 
i Cost of furrow in slit-furrow method not included. 
2 For slit-furrow method, $1, 85 cents, and 65 cents added according to spacing for cost of plowing, based 
on 8 miles of furrow in a day plowed by a man and team at $5. 
Taking into consideration all of the variable elements of cost in the 
planting process alone, there is evidently a wide range in total cost. 
Table 5 indicates a minimum of $3.37 per acre for small jack pine 
stock planted by the quickest method on an easy planting site, and 
with a comparatively small number of trees to the acre. Actually, 
during the six years, 1920-1925, 10,483 acres of the sandy lands of 
the Michigan National Forest were planted, 680 trees to the acre, 
chiefly with 2-year Norway pine seedlings, at an average cost of $3.43 
an acre. At the other extreme, 3-year transplants of white pine or 
spruce planted at the rate of 1,740 trees to the acre by the hole method 
would cost about $27 an acre. Costs as high as this or higher have 
not been uncommon in small-scale planting operations in the region 
where inexperienced men did the work under instructions which 
demanded careful planting, even at the sacrifice of speed. Planting 
units of 500 or 1,000 or more acres are desirable in order that the cost 
per acre may be kept to a minimum. 
PROTECTION FROM FIRE 
Protection from fire is an essential current cost in every forest 
plantation in the region. The cost of the construction of fire lines 
at the time of planting is usually less than 50 cents an acre. The 
disking and clearing of the fire lines and the employment of men to 
be on the ground during the dry seasons to insure care with fire by 
persons in or near the plantations and to put out any fires which 
may start are the chief elements of current cost. Lookout towers, 
telephone lines, and other detection measures have not been included, 
since the States provide with increasing effectiveness for this part of 
the protection. The probable annual cost to the private owner of 
protecting his plantation may therefore be placed at 5 cents an acre 
a year. It may exceed this amount for an owner of a small area who 
has to hire a man on full time during the fire season, but it will almost 
certainly be less for the owner or group of owners who organize 
protection for large areas. For the State or Federal Government 
