JACK PINE. Sil 
On the Michigan National Forests fire is not considered necessary 
in order to secure natural reproduction. This is because poorer soil 
conditions are found here than in northern Minnesota, and there is 
a much less vigorous growth of popple and white birch. The general 
policy here is to cut all merchantable trees, pile and burn the brush, 
and rely for reproduction on the seed that is already on the ground, 
or that may come either from the trees left after cutting or from 
trees on adjacent uncut areas. 
PLANTING AND SOWING. 
The cost of planting jack pine nearly equals that for white and 
Norway pines. Therefore, the extensive planting of this species does 
not seem warranted except on the poorest soils where these better 
trees will not grow. Even here, the ease with which natural repro- 
duction is secured makes planting unnecessary in the majority of 
cases. For forest planting on relatively arid soils both inside and 
outside its natural range, for windbreaks, and for the fixation of 
moving sand, jack-pine may be the best tree to use. On severe 
exposures in the sand hills of Nebraska, for example, jack pine 
plantations have been eminently successful, while those of Scotch, 
Norway, and western yellow pines, Douglas fir, and arborvitze have 
failed. (See Pl. XV.) 
The recently adopted policy of the Public Domain Commission of 
Michigan provides for the planting each year of from 4,000 to 5,000 
acres of waste sandy-plains land to forest trees, of which the State 
Forester’ says from 20 to 33 per cent will probably be jack pine. 
It is here to be used largely as a filler for Norway and white pines, 
and planted from 5 to 6 feet apart in ploughed furrows, with 6 feet 
between the furrows. The National Forests in Michigan and Minne- 
sota contain large areas of jack pine land. Wherever jack pine re- 
produces naturally, the Forest Service is glad to have it do so and 
in this way save the expense of planting. But the present Forest 
Service practice is not to plant jack pine on vacant land on these 
Forests, as it is believed none of this land is too poor to grow the much 
superior Norway pine. (See Pl. XIV, fig. 2.) 
Nursery-grown stock is almost always used in planting out, wild 
stock bemg only occasionally collected for this purpose. Experi- 
mental planting of jack pine shows that on poor sites, such as those 
found in the sand hills of Nebraska, the best results are obtained 
from the use of 3-year-old stock which has been two years in the 
seed bed and one year in the transplant bed. This material can be 
raised at a cost of from $3.50 to $4 per thousand, including seed, 
preparation of beds, and subsequent care, while the collected wild 
stock costs about $5 per thousand. On Michigan State forests, 
however, good success has been secured from planting 2-year seed- 
1 Marcus Schaaf. 
