36 
BULLETIN" 11, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
The cost per acre, then, of growing and setting out stock of different 
ages, differently spaced, would be as follows: 
Kind of stock. 
Spacing. 
5 by 6 
feet. 
8 by 8 
feet. 
10 by 10 
feet. 
1-year seedlings 
2-year seedlings 
3-year stock (2 years transplanted) 
S4.99 
6.70 
10.26 
$3.13 
4.31 
7.08 
$2. 27 
3.21 
5.61 
It will be seen from the foregoing that where wide spacing is 
practiced and nursery stock is grown on a large scale locally, planting 
can sometimes be done as cheaply as direct sowing. Moreover, it is 
always much the surer method. The cost figures given are, of course, 
only applicable to operations properly planned and skillfully carried 
out. 
ALTERNATION OF FOREST AND FARM CROPS. 
There are large areas of rather poor sandy land throughout the 
region in which loblolly pine occurs which will produce good farm 
crops for a number of years after cleared of forest and brush, but the 
fertility of which it is expensive to maintain for any considerable 
length of time. Such land can sometimes be most profitably worked 
on a system of alternating a forest crop of loblolly pine, grown on a 
40 to 50 year rotation, with the use of the land for farm crops for a 
period of from 10 to 15 years. The fertilizing effect on the soil in the 
growing of a timber crop is in this way taken advantage of for agri- 
cultural crops. In addition to this a new crop of loblolly pine can 
be established very easily on the area when worn out by farming. 
If there are sufficient loblolly-pine seed trees in the vicinity, the 
reproduction will spring up naturally on the "abandoned field, and 
if not, the pine can be planted or sowed. This is a good method of 
establishing a loblolly-pine forest on land which before cultivation 
had no loblolly on it, and also one especially adapted for use by 
resident farmers with woodlands adjacent to their farms. 
NURSERY WORK.i 
Where extensive planting operations are to be carried on it is best 
to establish a forest nursery. The following are the essential points 
to be held in mind in this work : 
Selection of Nursery Site. 
A site should be selected if possible with a light, moderately fertile, 
well-drained, but uniformly fresh to moist soil, and located in the 
open where there will be the least danger from disturbance by birds, 
i For detailed information on nursery work tbe reader is referred to Bulletin 76 of the Forest Service 
and Yearbook Reprint 376, of the Dept. of Agriculture. 
