Apr. 1, 1925 
Reforestation by Seed Sowing 
641 
although the remaining seedlings are 
approaching establishment, they are 
still decreasing in numbers. 
In this connection a statement made 
by a German forester since the recent 
war is interesting. Conditions in Ger¬ 
many, of course, are different from 
ours, and conclusions from work else¬ 
where can not be adopted as they 
stand. Nevertheless, it is well to 
keep in mind the development in a 
country older in forestry than our 
own. Kienitz 3 concludes that 
“ . . . natural regeneration has 
its rightful sphere as has sowing and 
planting; but, in general, artificial cul¬ 
ture has progressed far in advance and 
now is passing out of the sowing stage 
into that of the higher forest industry, 
namely, planting.” Germany has 
found direct seeding successful only 
when a continuous moisture supply is 
available. The short superficial root 
system of first-year seedlings makes 
them succumb easily to drought. 
Planting results in a better distribu¬ 
tion of soil moisture about the roots 
because of the loosened soil in the 
planting holes. It is the preferred 
method, and German experiments 
have shown that the cost of planting, 
calculated through the first three 
years, is less than the cost of sowing. 
CONCLUSIONS 
Of all the early direct-seeding pro¬ 
jects in the northern Rocky Mountain 
region, only 6 per cent were successful 
or partially successful. Later inten¬ 
sive experiments with seeding in pre¬ 
pared spots also failed to indicate prac¬ 
ticable methods of direct seeding for 
this region. Douglas fir was found to 
be much better adapted to success 
than the other local species, but all 
trials failed to produce a stand of sur¬ 
vivors in sufficient numbers. Because 
of rodents most of the large seed sown 
was never allowed to germinate. 
Among the seedlings drought was the 
foremost cause of loss; cutworms were 
next in destructiveness, and frost heav¬ 
ing caused many deaths. Fungus 
trouble was experienced, but ordinarily 
was not severe. Speaking in terms of 
the percentage of spots with one or 
more survivors, about 20 per cent sur¬ 
vival was obtained with Douglas fir 
under the best conditions, whereas 
other species were below 15 per cent in 
survival in all cases. Western white 
and western yellow pine and Engel- 
mann spruce, important commercial 
timber trees of the region, are essen¬ 
tial in reforestation and are included 
in the group of species making an ex¬ 
tremely poor showing in the experi¬ 
ments. 
It may be that direct seeding has its 
rightful sphere in the northern Rocky 
Mountain region, but if so, it has not 
yet been discovered. On the basis of 
the results here recounted, no more ex¬ 
periments in direct seeding are con¬ 
templated, except a test of sowing in 
fresh ashes after fires. A little hope 
for this method is cherished, but, if 
it succeeds, application in the region 
would necessarily be restricted to sites 
free from rodents, which possibly can 
be found only in the center of large, 
newly burned areas. 
The only hope seems to lie in man’s 
ability to reproduce the conditions 
which make possible nature’s own di¬ 
rect seeding, or at least to recognize 
and approximate them. Nature, how¬ 
ever, sows her seed more lavishly than 
the forester can afford to in his work, 
even to the extent of several hundred 
thousand large seeds and several mil¬ 
lion smaller seeds per acre, in order to 
secure a stand of 5,000 seedlings. 4 
And she is more patient with her many 
delays and failures than the forester 
can afford to be with his. 
3 Kienitz, M. was ist denn jetzt mode: saat oder pflanzung? Ztschr. Forst u. Jagdw. 51: 417-436. 
1919. 
* Based on careful counts made in the region by J. A. Larsen. 
