638 
Journal of Agricultural Research 
Vol. XXX, No. 7 
Experiments in direct seeding carried 
on at the Priest River branch experi¬ 
ment station in northern Idaho led 
conclusively to the opinion in 1916 that 
broadcast and corn-planter sowing were 
in general unreliable and too expensive. 
Since then the seeding experiments of 
the Forest Service in this region have 
been confined to sowing in prepared 
spots. 
INTENSIVE EXPERIMENTS 
In western Montana the Forest 
Service has had detailed seed-spot ex¬ 
periments under way since the spring 
of 1916 as a part of the planting re¬ 
search work at Savenac Nursery. As 
a preliminary step, the comparison of 
the adaptability of different species to 
seeding methods was undertaken. For 
this purpose it was necessary to group 
the species on the same site, the plan 
being to make later tests of the promis¬ 
ing species on sites well adapted to 
each. The location selected near Hau- 
gan, Mont., is typical of the areas in 
need of reforestation in the region. 
The sites used had been severely de¬ 
nuded by fire in 1910, only a few snags 
having been left standing. Fallen 
trees were partly consumed by fire. 
The aspects are north and northwest, 
and the elevation ranges from 3,500 
to 4,500 feet. The slopes are 35 to 
65 per cent, averaging about 50 per 
cent, and, aside from a mixture of 
herbaceous plants, are being reclaimed 
by occasional willows (Salix), buck¬ 
brush (Ceanothus), and flowering rasp¬ 
berry (Rubus). The soil is a loam, 
clayey and stony in places. 
On these areas, seed spots were in¬ 
stalled every spring from 1916 to 1921, 
and during the fall in 1916 and 1918. 
Thirty tests consisting of 300 prepared 
spots each were installed during the 
six-year period. 
A method of preparing and sowing 
spots which seemed to give most 
promise of success was adopted as 
standard and adhered to throughout, 
except in the case of sample lots of 
seed spots treated differently to give 
a check on methods. The standard 
method was as follows: 
A surface 6 to 8 inches square was 
denuded of sod and herbaceous cover 
by means of a planting mattock. 
Twenty to twenty-five seeds were 
scattered on the resulting fresh soil 
surface and tamped into this soil by 
pressing with the flat of the mattock 
blade. The seeds were then hand- 
covered by scattering on loose soil to 
the desired depth, or approximately 
y 8 inch for western yellow pine, 34 inch 
for Douglas fir and Engelmann spruce, 
and y 8 inch for western red cedar 
{Thuja plicata). The soil cover was 
not tamped. 
The variations of this method in¬ 
cluded tamping the surface soil, soil 
sterilization against fungi by a treat¬ 
ment with sulphuric acid, covering 
with leaf litter to make spots less con¬ 
spicuous to rodents and birds, and 
screening against these enemies. 
Observations were made and re¬ 
corded every 7 to 10 days during the 
first two growing seasons, with spring 
and fall survival counts the third 
season. The records at 10-day inter¬ 
vals showed germination, loss by 
causes, and survival. Seedlings were 
marked individually at the time of 
germination with toothpicks stained 
a distinctive color for each month. 
Subsequent notes on seedlings were 
recorded according to month of ger¬ 
mination. 
In 1916 western yellow pine failed 
because of the activity of rodents, 
although the survival of the seedlings, 
once germinated, was the highest of all 
species. Western red cedar failed 
because of low germination and 
drought, rodents being of no importance. 
The Douglas fir sowing was only a 
partial success, for most of the seed 
was damaged by rodents previous to 
germination, although the percentage 
of survival was high. Engelmann 
spruce, although it lost more than one- 
third of the plants from various causes, 
principally drought and cutworms, and 
to some extent damping-off, had sur¬ 
vivors in three-quarters of the unpro¬ 
tected spots averaging more than three 
per spot. 
In order of importance the causes of 
loss during 1916 were drought, insects, 
and fungi. The sulphuric-acid treat¬ 
ment did not materially lessen damp¬ 
ing-off. The expense of using a litter 
cover to mask the spots against rodents 
did not appear to be justified, for it 
had but slight effect. Rodents inter¬ 
fered only with the large seeds. The 
conclusion of the season was that the 
work gave promise of success and justi¬ 
fied further attempts. 
In 1917 the sowings of 1916-17 were 
watched closely. Douglas fir proved 
to be not much troubled by rodents 
and nearly as drought resistant as the 
western yellow pine. Of this species, 
50 per cent of the spots sown in the 
spring and 22 per cent of those sown in 
the fall of 1916 had survivors in the fall 
of 1917. Western larch was second 
with survivors in 11 per cent of fall- 
sown and 3 per cent of spring-sown 
spots. Yellow pine and Engelmann 
