TIMBER GROWING IN DOUGLAS FIR REGION 39 
They should be spaced a fairly uniform distance apart except that it 
is safer (for both ‘the trees and the loggers) to leave none within 200 
feet of landings or railroad tracks. “Douglas fir is the preferred 
species for seed trees wherever obtainable. Its associates are less 
likely to withstand fires and wind. 
PLANTING THE FAILED AREAS 
Where there are no adequate seed trees to leave or where their 
value for saw logs is greater than tne cost of planting, it will be better 
to plant up ar tificially the areas that may fail to reforest naturally. 
In other words, rather than lene several doiiars worth of good trees 
on every acre it may be a better plan to plant the portions of the area 
that perchance fail to reforest naturally. Planting is, however, a 
rather expensive operation and is not recommended as a general prac- 
tice for this region. It will be desirable mainly for restocking spots 
of logged-off land where natural seeding fails because of lack of a seed 
supply or repeated fires. Where the seed trees would not be wind- 
firm (as in some spruce-hemlock country, for example) and where 
natural reproduction can not be expected from either stored seed or 
from seed blown in from the side, there is no alternative to planting. 
Pianting is also particularly applicable where it is desired to mtroduce 
into the stand a larger proportion of some species, such as Sitka 
spruce for pulp wood on the hemlock land of the fog belt. 
it is expedient to defer planting until it is apparent that an area 
will not reseed naturally, and one can be sure that an area will not 
reseed only after a seed year or two have passed (except in the case 
of repeated burns) and a careful scrutiny of the ground has been made. 
Where planting is relied upon and no seed trees are !eft, the entire 
investment in planting may be lost through an accidental fire and 
have to be repeated. This is a consideration in choosing between 
the planting and seed-tree methods, for seed trees are less liable to 
be so lost. 
Planting nursery-grown trees rather than direct seeding is recom- 
mended because sufficient seed is not likely to escape the birds and 
rodents unless an extravagant quantity is used. Planting of wild 
stock is not recommended, as this stock does not stand transplanting 
as well as nursery-grown tr ees, and it is expensive to collect. 
Where Douglas fir is planted the surest stock to use is 2-year-old, 
once-transplanted trees. Such stock can be grown in quantity for 
about $7 per thousand. ‘Two-year old, untransplanted stock will be 
considerably cheaper and may have a place in some planting jobs. 
A spacing of 8 by 8 feet (680 trees per acre) is now used by the 
Forest Service. The cost of actual planting varies greatly with the 
rockiness of the soil, the topography, and the amount of brush and 
down logs on the oround, Good work is likely to cost about 0.75 cent 
to 1 cent per tree, or $5.10 to $6.80 per acre. This makes the total 
planting cost in average Douglas fir country about $14.50 to $17 
per thousand 2-year- -old transplants, or, roughly, between $9.50 and 
$12 per acre, exclusive of transportation charges from nursery to 
field.® 
8 Further details concerning the technic of artificial reforestation are given in reports of the extensive 
experiments by the Forest Service in this region, not all of which have as yet been published. 
