38 BULLETIN 11, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
but the amount of seed sown in the drills should be reduced one-half , 
so that the seedlings will have more room in which to grow. Or, 
instead, the seed might be evenly and thinly broadcasted over the 
seed bed. 
Growing Plant Stock on a Small Scale. 
For the farmer who wishes to grow planting stock on a small scale 
the elaborate bed and its care, while the surest of success, is not 
altogether necessary. He can more easily establish a single row of 
seedlings in a fertile, well-drained section of his vegetable garden, 
cultivating and tending them as he would a crop of peas or beans, 
and without screening. 
THINNINGS IN UNIFORM STANDS. 
The returns possible from intermediate cuttings, or thinnings, of 
well-stocked uniform stands should be taken advantage of in the 
management of loblolly pine whenever there is a market for the 
material. The object of such thinnings is primarily to utilize 
material which otherwise would be lost through death and decay, 
and secondarily to improve the stand by removal of overtopped trees 
and some of the less desirable dominant trees, in this way concen- 
trating the growth of the stand into a lesser number of the most 
desirable individuals. Where substantial returns can be realized 
from thhxnings it amounts in effect to " eating the cake and at the 
same time having it," while improving its quality. Thinnings in 
understocked stands, which under present forest conditions are the 
rule, are not usually advisable. 
In general, the rapidity of natural thinning, or dying out of over- 
topped trees, in loblolly-pine stands makes further thinning inadvis- 
able unless the material cut can be profitably utilized. 
It is best for the stand to commence thinning at an early age, that 
is, when 15 to 20 years old, and to repeat the thinning at intervals of 
from 5 to 10 years. Thinning in stands 15 to 30 years old can be 
made to include a larger number of undesirable trees from the domi- 
nant stand than in older stands. In the latter, thinnings should be 
confined almost exclusively to the removal of overtopped, unhealthy, 
dying, and dead trees. The thinning of loblolly-pine stands on moist 
to wet sites is more effective than on dry soil, because the natural 
dying off of overtopped trees is much slower in the former than in the 
latter. 
Table 26 shows the increase in diameter on a wet site of a 
thinned as compared with an unthinned half-acre plot located in 
the same stand. The age of the stand in 1906, at the time of the first 
measurement and thinning, was 18 years, and in 1910, at the time of 
the second measurement, 22 years.. The stand was unusually dense. 
