PAMPHLETS /\ VOL.2 The Forest Club Annual. University of Nebraska. Lincoln, Nebraska. Vol. 6 1915. The Timber Resources of llebraska. By '71 Ill-am L. Hall., Bupt . of Tree Plant- ing, Bureau of Forestry. 1901. A, *. > • ' ' •' 'if ^ /o^^-*^ ' FORESTRY _<^ COLLEGE Of & AGRICULTURE 1 Jl6 r . A/ . / ^ . • • ' y C Jjl ; v ^. / 2 ... '*•/•." AI : '*. ® . r V. . A/ -., • " , 7* . 7- 7- >4/^U T , ./r /? R * & • v • r s .. | 5 "• . i^ '. A/ /e 3A' A/ JV. >" * C • ' r» /?"; * ' - A '. " T S. . . - ' .X • c , . Al v* ' ft •f U^ i T '.So A ff • • f/ V 5 c Al . v* A c" . ^ ff *t5 . • S1 ^ C r , •'.' 0 rr? A' , C A * K 6 • * ,r K ff» c Al r ^J . • . ^' G r Al Al A • • A/C r rr f T . Al • A A a. 0^ c © .9* A C ® y» :- 'V » , *'§ 2 ' P J • A. ^ A * . e tf * C / /rr < • > " A 9 ' • t TC A A A cs ® rr Y ^1 ^ c • ' *'^ • • ® P * C C^ p. « . ^•i-^C 4 • X &£t A 2 'c r 5o c A - . .r *.AA M C- '• -r ^ . — Polygonum A — Achillea T — Taraxacum S — Sophia DENUDED PLOT NO. 18. Leg-end R — Delphinium C — Chenopodi um PI — Plantago S't — Stipa K — Trisetum G — Galium A g — Agropyron Quadrat Method in Forestry Investigations 27 tically three 8-hour days were required in the recording of plots 18 and 19. In the establishment of plots, therefore, the amount of work subsequently involved should be carefully taken Tntu account. Further, a great deal more time is required in segre- gating and listing the data, as shown in the following, from the charts made in the field. o .Al •'c . 'LAI- ' C ' V At A> . S3 >•- .A'* V. . . ' X* '5* c 'Al •'"fs." •ff^ , c • .«; A> .* An . — Polygxmum Al — Alsine S — Sophia V — Viola DENUDED PLOT NO. 19. Leg-end An — Androsace L — Lathyrus Ag — Agoseris So — Solidago St— Stipa C — Chenopodium K— Physaris T — Taraxacum 28 Forest Club Annual The analysis of the composition of the two plots follows. Analysis of Sample Plot No. 18, first series : No. of Specimens Achillea* 37 Alsine 41 Agropyron* 1 Chen op odium 26 Galium 10 Oenothera 5 Plantago 3 Poa* ! Polygoniim 385 Rume.v H Sophia* Stipa Taraxacum * 39 Trisetum* 7 Viola 16 Unidentified Seedlings 5 Total .. 599 Analysis of Sample Plot No. W, first series : No. of Specimens Agoseris* 5 Alsine 87 Androsace 8 Chenopodium 50 Lathyrus* 18 Physaria 1 Polygonum 1468 Solidago 5 Sophia* 54 Taraxacum* . 7 Viola 68 ' Total 1771 From such specific figures as the above, prepared after each mapping (at least at the end of each growing season, if not oftener), the exact number of individuals on each plot and the •"Indicates plants of high forage value. Quadrat Method in Forestry Investigations 29 increase or decrease in specific cases, as well as invasion by new species, should be plainly shown. By so doing, the effect of cli- matic conditions and the particular management under considera- tion may be clearly determined. The work involved in mapping and recording may be greatly decreased in two ways, namely, (1) by charting only the com- mercially valuable species and possibly those which figure strong- ly in root or aerial competition, and (2) by combining the list and chart methods as already stated. The value of these methods lies not only in the decreased amount of work, but makes possi- ble the mapping of much larger plots than where all vegetation is charted. The results obtained from mapping according to the first condition, i. e., taking into account only a few of the leading spe- cies, is shown by the following figures obtained through the chart- ing of a 3-meter square unit plot established in September, 1913, and recharted in August, 1914. Total Area in sq.cm. 1 Artemisia I Achillea Taraxacum | Pentstemon | Erigeron 1914 45.75 7.65 23.15 | 16.70 1.05 1913 23.65 2.85 .... 15.45 .75 Increased area in 22.10 4.80 23.15 1.25 .30 sq. cm. Per cent Increase 93.45 168.42 .... 8.09 40.0 In this instance increment through vegetative means is shown. This means of reproduction is most important where there is keen competition, so the method in question has a high value. A plot established according to the second method, i. e., by the application of the chart-list plan, accompanied by the analysis of the two most important commercial species, follows. The sketch (Chart — List Plot No. 26) represents the vegetative cover as found in August, 1914. 1 Phleum pratense 1 Taraxacum ofhnale Total specimens in 1914 1166 457 Total specimens in 1913 1129 457 Total increase in No. of specimens Per cent of Increase 37 3.2 0 0 30 Forest Club Annual The occurrence of Phlcitui pratense is due to artificial seed- ing to this species, a practice carried out on seriously depleted range lands where growth conditions are favorable but where natural vegetation is unsatisfactory because of the absence of seed plants. It is noted that there is an increase in number of r/ilcinu species in 1914 over 1913. This is doubtless due to a part of the seed tiding over the first season. Subsequent charts a B > r 7 A 1 An 1 Ph 2S T /ff- P* ze Py / P9 2 Al 6 B1 A/ PS 7 Bl 3t fh7 m A4- P* 32. 7" 7 Pff / PhG T 7 V ' At a T 1C PJ* BAI > T 70 AI a T 1 SZ A 6 ft, 29 T •* P* a Af 2 'A/ r 9 Py* V / Ph 37 T // Ph 36 T 3 h /ie Anwendung. neuen Frkennens und Konnens auf die Kiefernsamendarre. Zeitschrift fur Forst — und Jagdwesen. 42:355, 356. establishment, found that the results from several thousand tests of coniferous tree seeds bore out the opinion. of Haack that this time limit should be set at seven days, thus assuming that all seeds germinating during that period would be of value for field purposes, those germinating later valueless. A filter paper germination apparatus, which will be described later, was used. Bates***, at the Fremont Experiment Station, established this *** Rates: Technique of Seed Testing. Proceedings of the Society of American Foresters. 8:134. time limit as 25 days for yellow pine, 31 days for lodgepole pine, 35 days for Douglas fir for Wyoming use, 21 days for Douglas 74 Forest Club Annual fir for Colorado use and 22 days for Engelmann spruce by tests of ten or more samples of each species (each sample containing 500 seeds), the time limit for each sample being assumed to have expired when the germination for any one day dropped below two seedlings and the germination on the next day did not exceed two. The seeds were germinated in pure sand and under greenhouse conditions. The results are, of course, as Bates points out, only applicable for the central Rocky Mountains. On stating the case briefly as shown by the work of these two investigators, the time limit is set at the point when the germina- tion of seeds becomes negligible for practical purposes such as a field or nursery sowing. This time limit is now commonly called in America the germinative energy period or germinative force period, while tne percentage of germination obtained at the expiration of the period is termed germinative energy or germinative force.* *Lovejoy: A Suggestion for Securing Better Professional Terminology. Forestry Quarterly, 12:2. These terms do not seem to be clear in so far as they do not express exactly what is meant, and furthermore, there is room for question as to whether they are correctly applied. Wiebecke** ** Wiebecke: Anwendung neuen Erkennens auf die Kiefernsamendarre. Zeitschrift fur Forst — und Jaguwesen. 42:355, 356. uses germinative energy (Keimenergie) in the same sense as germinative force seems to be commonly accepted in America, but uses (jcnnmativc force (Keimkraft) to denote final germina- tion. Lorey***, on the other side, defines the germinative force ***Jjorey: Handbuch der Forstwissenschaft. 2:106. as the germinative per cent combined with the "germinative energy". Wagner1 considers the germinative energy to be the force with which the seed breaks through the surface of the soil. Mayr2 seems to view germinative energy as the rapidity iWagner and 7Mayr: \Valdbau auf naturwissensehaftlirhen Grund- lage. 371. of germination. The case reduces itself to this : Some investiga- tors use the terms germinative energy and germinative force in- terchangeably for the germination per cent at the expiration of a certain limited time ; again germinative force is considered to be the combination of energy of germination and the germination per cent in one instance, and used to denote final germination in Methods in Germination Tests of Coniferous Tree Seeds 75 another ; germinative energy is stated to be merely the% rapidity of germination by one and held to be the force with which the seed breaks through the soil by another. It can readily be seen that some confusion exists. Since this time limit was established in order to arrive at a closer index of the value of seed for field purposes and to secure a greater economy in seed, I shall use the terms, "practical germination period", instead of the American terms germinative energy or germinative force period, and "practical germination per cent" to replace germinative energy or germinative force, and thus avoid any misunderstanding due to the present con- fusion of terms. By practical germination per cent, I mean the germination per cent at the end of a definite period, fixed by the judgment of the investigator, after which seeds germinat- ing are believed to produce seedlings valueless for field purposes. The practical germination period must always be given with the practical germination per cent in order to render the latter figure of any value. Thus: Practical germination (30 days) 66 per cent. As I use practical germination per cent in this paper, two seed samples of the same species and having the same practical germination per cent for the same practical germination period would be considered of equal value for field purposes — which would probably be true provided some form of filter paper germination apparatus had been used in every case and the practical germination period had been relatively short, for in- stance, seven days. But this assumption should not be applied to results obtained from germination tests in soil where the practical germination period is so much longer, often from twenty to thirty-five days, that there is every possibility of variation in speed of germination within this practical germination period for two seed samples with the same practical germination per cent. For example, two samples of western yellow pine seed with a practical germination of 40 per cent for a period of 25 days in soil test would be considered of equal value for field or nursery sowing. But if one of these samples should show a germination of 30 per cent in twenty days while the other had a germination of only 25 per cent for the same period it is obvious that the first sample is better than the second for practical purposes. Careful attention, then, should be given to the daily progress of germination within the practical germina- tion period in deciding the relative merits of seed samples under test. To simplify comparison, the daily germination should be plotted as a curve using the per cent of germination as the 76 Forest Club Annual abscissa and the clays as the ordinate. In time it may be possible to establish empirical tables for natural regions based on the number of days required for seeds of a certain practical germina- tion and final germination to reach the culmination point in the daily germination curve, that is, the day on which the greatest number of seeds germinate. Then all seeds tested could be re- ferred directly to these tables to determine whether the seed was above or below average quality and in this way the value of any seed could be determined accurately and readily. FACTORS INFLUENCING GERMINATION. A certain amount of light is required to secure the best germination of coniferous seeds. Haack* found that for pine *Haack: Keimung und Bewertung des Kiefernsamens. Zeitschrift fur Forst— und Jagdwesen, 38:449. seeds the final germination as well as the practical germination was lower in darkness than in light. The same investigator also found** for pine and spruce seeds that it sufficed to germinate **Haack: Die Priifung des Kiefernsamens. (Zeitschrift fur Forst — und Jagdwesen 44:193-222, 273-307). Abstract in Experiment Station Record 27:243. the seed in light for a period of from 8 to 10 hours daily and that the best intensity of light was one which would allow comfortable reading. There was little difference in the results whether the experiment was carried on in daylight or in artificial light. He states that the seeds should not be exposed to the direct rays of the sun. The tests were carried on in a filter paper apparatus. For soil tests the ordinary light in a greenhouse is entirely satisfactory during the winter months, but when the sun's rays become more intense in the spring and summer the greenhouse glass should be whitewashed. It has been well proved that variation of temperature within each twenty-four hour period materially aids germination. This variation, of course, must not exceed certain limits, since either too high or too low a temperature will absolutely preclude germination. Haack***, using a filter paper apparatus, found that ***Haack: Keimung und Bewertung des KiefVrnsamens. Zeitscliri ft I'iir Forst — und .Jagdwesen, 38:458. germination of pine seeds was retarded if the temperature fell below 20 degrees C. (68 degrees F.) and that the germinating Methods in Germination Tests of Coniferous Tree Seeds 77 seeds could endure a temperature of 35 degrees C. (95v degrees F.) for a short time without injury. Hiltner and Kmzel* *Hiltner and Kinzel: uber die Ursachen und die Beseitigung der Kei- mungsliemmungen. Xaturwissenschai'tliehe Zsitschrift fur Liand — und [< orstwirtschaf t, 4:44. materially increased the germination per cent of white pine seed within a forty-two day period by applying a daily tempera- ture of 30 degrees C. (86 degrees F.) for six hours and then 20 degrees C. (68 degrees F.) for the remaining eighteen hours of the twenty- four hour period. Bates** used a temperature range **Bates: Technique of Seed Testing. Proceedings of the Society of American Foresters, 8:131. of 30 degrees F. per twenty-four-hour period with the ex- tremes at 55 degrees F. and 85 degrees F. Kinzel***, working ***Kinzel. W.: uber die Wirkung wechselnder Warmheit auf die Keimung einzelner Samen. (Landw. Vers. Stat., 54:134-139). Abstract in Experi- ment Station Record. 12:5ff3. with Scotch pine ( Finns silvestris), Norway spruce (Picea c.vcclsa), and larch (Lari.r sp.), found that in the case of the Scotch pine seeds those which had been exposed to a temperature of 30 degrees C. for six hours and then 20 degrees C. for the remaining eighteen hours of the twenty-four-hour period gave a lower germination than those exposed to a uniform temperature of 20 degrees C. (68 degrees F.). In the case of Norway spruce and larch, however, higher practical germination per cent was secured by exposure to varying temperatures ; the larch also yielded a slightly higher final germination per cent. The writer used a daily range of 25 degrees F. with a minimum of 55 degrees and a maximum of 80 degrees in the greenhouse with satisfactory results. The question of the influence of descent, that is of the mother tree, and of the source (locality from which the seed is obtained ) on the germination of seed is too broad a question to permit of treatment in this paper. Circular 196 of the United Braces Forest Service by G. A. Pearson entitled, "The Influence of \ge and Condition of the Tree upon Seed Production in Western Yellow Pine", gives some interesting results along this line. Age of the seed, of course, has a direct influence on germina- tion, the final germination decreasing with the increase in age. But even if the decrease in the final germination is not distinctl) apparent during the first two or three years for seed properly stored, the decrease in the practical germination is usually 78 Forest Club Annual marked, since the older seeds almost invariably show a tendency to germinate more slowly than fresh seeds. It is practically impossible to make a definite statement as to the time elapsing between placing the seeds in the germination apparatus and the beginning of germination. This will not only vary with species but with individual lots of seeds within the species. In general, the thin-coated seeds (Pseudotsuga ta.vi- folia, Picea e.vcelsa, Abies concolor, etc.) can be relied upon to commence germination much sooner than the thick-coated seeds (Pin us Jeffreyi, Pinus edulis, Pin us cernbra, etc.) Zeberbauer* *Zederbauer, E. : Die Keimprufungsdauer einiger Koniferen. (Centbl. Gesam. Forstw., 32:306-315). Abstract in Experiment Station Record, 18:147. made a large number of germination tests of various species of coniferous seed to determine the period required for germination. Most of the species of Picea, Pinus, Lariv, Tsuga, Sequoia, Cryptomeria and Cupressus germinated in from 14 to 28 days after placing in the germination apparatus, while Pinus strobus required from 30 to 40 days. In soil tests the germination of thin-- coated seed rarely commences before seven days have elapsed after placing in the soil, and with the thick-coated seeds often two months or even more is required. This immediately sug- gests perliminary treatment of hard-coated seeds. Concentrated sulfuric acid, for instance, dissolves the seed coat to a certain extent and permits moisture to permeate more rapidly. Hiltner and KinzeP treated Scotch pine seeds with concentrated sul- furic acid for periods varying from ten minutes to one hour and found that the germination was hastened and the final germinative per cent increased directly with the length of treat- ment. Germination* of white pine seed was materially hastened by such treatment, one hour being the optimum time of treatment since periods shorter and longer than this showed a falling off in practical germination per cent as wrell as final germination per cent. A germination3 of 24 per cent was secured with Pinus cembra seed treated for twenty-one hours with concentrated sul- furic acid, the seed having failed to germinate when untreated. Hot water4 at a temperature of 65 degrees C. applied for a period i, 2, 3, 4 Hiltner and Kinzel: fiber die Urachen und die Beseitigung- der Keimungsbemmungen. Naturwissenscbaftlicbe Zeitscbrift fur Land — und rm-stwirtschaft, 4:44, 46, 47. of five minutes hastened germination and increased the final germination per cent of white pine seed. Germination tests can never be absolutely exact, since from Methods in Germination Tests of Coniferous Tree Seeds 79 any given quantity of seed it is impossible to select an* average sample which will be exactly representative, and it is further impossible in practical work to have the conditions of germina tion. such as moisture, light and temperature, exactly the same for more than one sample. Furthermore, germination tests are not an exact measure of the results to be expected in the field 01 nursery, but merely a relative index of the value of the seed for this purpose. Germination tests in the greenhouse or laboratory are carried on under the most favorable conditions, whereas, conditions in the field are often highly unfavorable and very rarely approach conditions under which the greenhouse germina- tion tests are made. For instance, sudden changes in tempera- ture, late frosts, drying out of the soil, "damping off" before the seedlings appear above the soil surface are factors which may be encountered in the field, any of which is sufficient to greatly lower germination. Haack* found in working with pine seed *Haack: Keimung und Bewertung des Kiefernsamens. Zeitschrift fur Forst — und Jagdwesen, 38:465. that two seed samples which gave a 95 per cent final germina- tion and a 65 per cent final germination in the laboratory yielded but 39 per cent and 3 per cent respectively under unfavorable field conditions. Furthermore, Haack's** experiments show that **Recknagel: The Equipment and Operation of a Prussian Seed Extract- ing Establishment. Forestry Quarterly, 10:234. the number of plants obtained in the field is invariably lower than the germination per cent. The period required for germination will also usually be much shorter in the laboratory than in the field. However, seed with the higher final germination and especially the higher practical germination under laboratory con- ditions can be relied upon to show the same advantages over seed possessing these characteristics in a lesser degree when both are sown under identical conditions in the open. Germination tests can be conducted at any time of the year presupposing that favorable conditions for germination are pro- vided for. METHODS. Seed tests may be broadly divided into two classes ; namely, provisional tests and absolute germination tests. Provisional tests are merely rough estimates of the final germination of any quantity of seed, made when it is impossible 80 Forest Club Annual to perform an absolute test or when the latter is unnecessary for the result sought. A provisional test is of value when selecting; areas for seed collecting in order to ascertain whether the seed on the area under consideration is of a high enough fertility to warrant the operation. Among the commoner provisional tests may be mentioned the knife test, the heat test and the water test. The knife test consists in merely cutting open a number of seeds (one hundred at the very least) and judging from the condition of the kernel whether the seed is fertile or not. A plump kernel usually means a fertile seed, while a shriveled kernel means a worthless one. After the operator has had con- siderable experience in this line, much skill is attained in judging the seeds. The final germination per cent obtained by this test is usually higher than that resulting from an absolute germina- tion test with the same seed. For the heat test a sample of seed is placed in a pan which is then heated to a rather high temperature, care being taken not to char or burn the seed coats. Those seeds which break open are judged to be fertile, those remaining closed, worthless. The principle is that of popping corn. This method is best with fresh seed. As to its accuracy and reliability, the writer is unable to give information. In the third method mentioned, the water test, the sample of seeds is placed in a bucket or other receptacle containing enough cold water to entirely cover the seeds if they should all sink. They are then thoroughly stirred up in order to completely \vet the seed coats and free them from air bubbles. The seeds that sink are counted as fertile and those that float, worthless. It is impossible to use this method at all with the lighter coniferous seeds, since all will float, and it is altogether unreliable for the heavier seeds. Of these three provisional tests, the knife test is the most satisfactory, since it comes closest to the absolute germination test and can be made with the minimum of preparation. Absolute germination tests may be subdivided into two classes, paper or cloth tests and soil tests. In the former, the seeds are placed upon moist paper, such as filter paper or blot- ting paper, usually in a moist chamber, Petri dish or some other form of receptacle which permits ready access of light. In the latter, the seeds are sown directly in soil which is moistened by means of surface watering. The paper or cloth test is principally used in testing agri- cultural seeds and is also widely used abroad for testing tree seeds. The advantages of this method over the soil test are that Methods in Germination Tests of Coniferous Tree Seeds 81 less space and less time are required for each individual test ; it is easier to regulate the temperature and moisture, and the seetis are always plainly visible. Its disadvantages are that, since there are so many types of paper or cloth germinators, it will be almost an impossibility to standardize the method ; further- more, fungi are apt to grow on the medium, thus necessitating the use of a fungicide such as formalin or sulfuric acid, with the result that both the practical germination per cent and the final germination per cent may be affected one way or the other. The method is not considered to give as true an index of field germina- tion as the more natural soil test. Since the paper or cloth method is still used extensively abroad and to some extent in this country, the following short description of the method employed at the Eberswalde seed extracting establishment in Germany may be of value.* "A ; \Viebecke: The Equipment and Operation of a German Seed Extract- ing Establishment. Trans, by Sydney L. Moore. Forestry Quarterly, 9:3S and :;:». compartment about three feet square ( 1 meter) is sufficient for this (the germination chamber) ; fitted up as a miniature greenhouse continuously heated by hot air to about 86 degrees F. (30 degrees C.) ; under its glass panes stand the little cellars, tin boxes, and upon the bridges of these are laid about 100 seeds on a strip of flannel or blotting paper, the edges of which hang down into water. The practical application of this at the Ebers- walde seed-house has resulted in the use of blotting paper only, the seed being allowed to lie free upon it, and the individual tin boxes which can comfortably hold ten tests of 100 seeds each, being covered with very large glass plates, lying loose upon them. The seeds are then always visible, germinate quickly, and after 170 germination hours give a result which is accomplished in the quickest and most useful way to be of practical value. We germinate three parallel tests of each day's seed assortment, so that any incorrect handling in the germination chamber can be definitely established." Bates** describes a type of apparatus used for a while at the **Bates: Technique of Seed Testing. Proceedings of the Society of American Foresters, 8:129. Fremont Experiment Station but later discarded as unsatis- factory since it did not yield as good results as the soil test. The writer used moist chambers with moist blotting paper on which the seed lay free, the moist chambers being placed on benches in ^ 82 Forest Club Annual greenhouse. Some difficulty was encountered with fungi grow- ing on the filter paper, which retarded germination of the seed, but on the whole, the results were satisfactory for this method of testing. As a rule, however, the soil test will undoubtedly prove the most satisfactory for all round results since it is the most natural method of germination, thus giving a closer relation to field results ; and also standarization under this method will be easier to attain. The United States Forest Service has formally adopted the soil test for coniferous tree seeds. Occasionally sawdust has been recommended instead of soil, but this does not seem to have any strong points to recom- mend it and has one serious drawback. The leaching out of chemicals from the sawdust under the influence of moisture may retard or entirely stop germination, the presence of tannic acid being particularly fatal to germination through poisoning of the \oung radicle. The choice of the kind of soil to use is another important point. The germination of seeds is dependent on the physical rather than the chemical properties of soil, although the latter cannot be disregarded. Pure sand is generally accepted now since it has the advantages over loam ( 1 ) of draining more easily, (2) not crusting so easily (crusting seriously retards germina- tion), (3) not packing so hard, (4) more easily securing a uniform soil texture throughout the flat or till, (5) conducing less to the growth of fungi and algae, (6) being less affected, if at all, as lo its physical properties when necessarily sterilized with dry heat at a temperature of 150 degrees C., (7) being more free from soluble chemical matter that may be of influence. During 1910-1911 an experiment was carried on by the writer in the greenhouse at the University of Nebraska to de- termine the effect of different soils on the germination of Pscudotsuga ta.vifolia seed of unknown origin. One sample was germinated in pure sand, another in a half and half mixture oi sand and loam, and a third in loam soil. Germination, in the first instance, commenced in eight days, in the second in ten days and in the third in twelve days with a final germination of 75 per cent, 70 per cent and 67 per cent respectively at the end of 146 days. A blotter test in a moist chamber for this seed at the same time yielded a final germination of 75 per cent in 42 days, identical with the final germination in sand in 146 days. The difference in the final germination in these three cases is not p;reat, but still large enough to be at least suggestive that sand is the most valuable medium for this species. Methods in Germination Tests of Coniferous Tree Seeds S3 If it is found that fungi are interfering with the germina- tion of the seeds in sand, some form of sterilization before putting in the seed will be necessary. The use of formalin in the soil is not recommended, since it is v-ery apt to hinder germination. Sulfuric acid, strongly diluted, would undoubtedly be of benefit in checking the fungi, but it will also serve to in- crease the rapidity of germination and thus render seed samples tested in sand treated in this manner not comparable with samples tested in untreated sand. Sterilization with heat will undoubtedly prove the most satisfactory method. The writer found that the growth of fungi was inhibited by subjecting the sand to a temperature of 150 degrees C. for forty-five minutes, and since the greenhouse room in which the seed tests were carried on was kept very clean, no reinfection of the sand occurred. Undoubtedly, the physical properties of the sand were slightly changed, but this proved negligible. In the case of loam, however, this change would be marked; in fact, it is not at all unlikely that there would be a noticeable effect on the germination of the seed. The depth at which coniferous seed should be placed has been fairly well established. Bates* recommends a covering of *Bates, C. C. : Technique of Seed Testing. Proceedings of the S'ociety of American Foresters, 8:131, 132. 14 inch for all species of coniferous seed so far tested from the central Rocky Mountains, with a slightly heavier covering, y% inch, if desired for Pinus ponderosa seed. Somerville**, **Somerville: Experiments with Tree Seed (Bd. Agr. Rpt. Distrib. Grants for Agl. Education in Great Britain, 1894-'95, pp. 62-65. Abstract in Experiment Station Record, 7:509. working with Picea e.rcelsa, found that covering the seed to a depth of J4 mcn gave tne l)est germination per cent. In December 1910 samples of Pinus ponderosa seed, col- lected at Maine, Arizona in the fall of 1909, were sown at the greenhouse at the University of Nebraska by the writer in a half and half mixture of loam and sand at various depths. The average temperature of the greenhouse was from 75 to 80 degrees F. for approximately ten hours and then 55 to 60 degrees F. for the remaining 14 hours of the 24-hour period. The table below gives the results. 84 Forest Club Annual Depth of covering. Number of days before the first seedling appeared. Final germination per cent. Period adopted 52 days. Depth of seed l/4 inch l/2 inch % inch 1 inch la/4 inch ll/2 inch 10 13 14 16 Rotted in the soil Rotted in the soil Rotted in the soil 72 48 36 Rotted before completely freeing seed cap. 0 0 0 A blotter test of the same material gave a final germination of 75 per cent in 21 days. The covering of y2 inch in the experiments given above was certainly too much. In the course of the experiments it was noticed that the seedlings had considerable difficulty in releasing their seed caps from the soil, in one instance three days being required, while in another the seedling died in five days through inability to free its cap. Only three seedlings appeared at the soil surface from those seeds covered to a depth of three-fourths inch, but these could not release their seed caps and speedily died. The difference in final germination seems to be entirely too marked between those seeds covered to a depth of ^4 inch and* those covered to their own depth (about y% inch), par- ticularly in view of the results obtained by Bates and Somer- ville. A repetition of the first part of this experiment with the same seed in pure sand a year later gave a final germination of 76 per cent for seeds covered to their own depth (about ^g inch) and of 88 per cent for seeds covered to a depth of l/^ inch. In this experiment the final germination decreases directly with the increase in depth of covering and the period before the first seed- ling appears increases directly. Generally, it may be stated that coniferous seed may be covered to their own depth or to ]/\ inch in sand tests ; the latter depth will probably be preferable, since with the deeper covering there is less danger of exposing the seed through washing off of the soil when surface watering is applied. The amount of moisture in the soil used is another important factor in the germination of seeds since either too much or too little will retard germination. Samples of Pinus ponderosa seed, collected at Maine, Arizona in the fall of 1909, were sown in a half and half mixture of sand and loam at the same time and Methods in Germination Tests of Coniferous Tree Seeds 85 under the same greenhouse conditions of temperature as stated on page 83, but were given varying amounts of water* per day. No. Inches water per day Germination com- menced, days Final germination one hundred forty-six days 1 2 3 4 .064 .117 .212 .306 17 12 10 10 60% 80% 83% 80% The seeds receiving the lowest moisture daily showed a marked decrease in final germination, but there is little to choose between the three samples receiving the greater amounts, since the periods elapsing before germination commenced are very close for all three and the final germination per cents vary but slightly. The differences are not marked enough to draw any conclusions with these three, but the longer period elapsing be- fore germination commenced and the lower final germination per cent of No. 2 as compared with No. 3 and the lower final germina- tion per cent of No. 4 as compared with No. 3 suggests that the amount of moisture per day received by No. 3 was probably the optimum, No. 2 receiving not quite enough and No. 4 slightly too much. However, these data are offered not in an attempt to establish a rule concerning the optimum moisture requirement, but merely as an illustration of the effect of moisture. Suffice it to say that in germination tests the surface soil should be kept continually moist and never permitted to dry out. The method of making germination tests of coniferous seeds given in the following is one which the writer found very satis- factory. First, froin the lot of seed to be tested, just as received from the field or storage house, a representative sample is selected. Even though the seed has been cleaned at the time of extraction it is rarely, if ever, entirely free from foreign matter, which neces- sitates further cleaning at the time of testing. This will be ex- plained later. If the lot is large, several pounds are selected at random from various parts of the lot, while if the lot is small (a few pounds), it is included entirely. The quantity selected is thoroughly mixed by hand and then divided into two equal portions, as closely as possibly can be done by the eye. One of these portions is discarded and the other divided in the same manner. This process is repeated until two portions of about 86 Forest Club Annual five hundred seeds each, according to estimate, are obtained. One of these portions is then discarded and from the other portion five hundred seeds in series of one hundred are counted out. This is considered to be as nearly a representative sample as can be obtained. There are various types of mechanical separators made for this purpose, but they offer nothing of real value in the way of increased accuracy, and besides, are slower than the hand method. At the same time the following data are recorded for each lot of seed, the lot being designated by a Roman numeral. Sample No. Species. Pounds of seed in the lot. Origin. Date. Place. Altitude. Exposure. Notes or remarks on mother trees. Method of drying cones. Method of storing seed. Number of uncleaned seed per pound. Number of clean seed per pound. The first sample tested from Lot I would be Number 1 and designated as 1-1. "Method of drying cones" means whether kiln dried or sun dried. This is of importance, since it may help at times to ex- plain unexpected results. Too high a temperature applied in the kiln at the time of drying the cones seriously impairs the germina- tion of the seed. The number of uncleaned seed per pound is obtained by weighing out an ounce of seed from one of the portions discarded and then counting the number of seeds, after which the number per pound can be calculated. This figure is of great value, since from it and the practical germination per cent the amount (by weight) of seed to be sown per unit area in the nursery or field is calculated. The number of clean seeds per pound is obtained by re- moving all foreign matter from the ounce of seed used above, reweighing and again calculating the number per pound. The other data are obtained from notes made by the seed collector. The seed sample is then ready for placing in the germina- tion apparatus. Methods in Germination Tests of Coniferous Tree Seeds 87 The soil test is used, sand being the medium chosen, in movable flats with inside dimensions of 4 inches deep by 12 inches square for containers. When a new test is started in a flat, this flat is filled level to the top with finely sifted sand just moist enough to pack well, which is then pressed down with a board just fitting inside of the flat. This board, which is y% inch thick, has five strips nailed to it on the under side, each strip being 1 inch wide and J/s inch deep. These strips are spaced 1 inch apart and the two outer strips are \y2 inches from the edge of the board. The board also has strips nailed on the top and pro- jecting over the edge to prevent it from being pushed down more than the required depth. After being pressed down with this board the surface of the sand is just y% inch from the top of the flat and five rows appear on the sand 1 inch wide, 1 inch apart, the outer two rows \l/> inches from sides of the flat. All the rows are y% inch deep. Into each row is put a series of one hundred seeds evenly distributed ; thus, each flat holds a com- plete sample of five hundred seeds. Sand is then sifted over the whole so as to more than fill the flat, the extra soil being scraped off with a straight board. This results in a uniform sand cover over the seeds to the depth of ^ inch, together with practically uniform soil conditions in the seed bed. The slight difference of compression of l/% inch between the rows and the inter-row spaces appears negligible. The flat is then marked with the lot and sample designations and the rows are given separate numbers. Next, the flat is placed on a bench in the greenhouse, where a temperature range is kept within 25 degrees F., with a minimum of 55 degrees F. and a maximum of 80 degrees F. The flat is watered daily or often enough to keep the top of the sand moist. The date on which the germination test is commenced is recorded. Daily observations are made and the date on which germination commenced in each row is recorded. Then daily counts are made of the number of seeds germinated in each row and the final germination computed for each row at the end of 75 days, (since tests have shown that very few or no seeds germinate after this period) by digging out and opening the ungerminated seeds and adding the number of those with ap- parently fertile embryos to the number already germinated. If the final germination for all five rows does not vary more than 12 per cent, the sample is assumed to be representative. However, if there is a variation of over 12 per cent, a new sample is selected and the test repeated. If the resuks of the test show it to be representative, the daily germinations of the five series 88 Forest Club Annual of seed in each sample are averaged, and the daily germination curve plotted. From this, the practical germination per cent and the final germination per cent for the sample is established. The advantage of testing each sample of 500 seeds in series of 100 is self-evident. There is, of course, always a possibility that even in a carefully selected sample of 500 seeds there may be a number of abnormal seeds which will influence the result markedly one way or the other. If the 500 seeds are tested as one series, there is no possible way of detecting such an abnor- mality, and the final result is likely to be misleading. But in testing the 500 seeds as series of one hundred each, considerable opportunity is offered to detect any such abnormality and, if necessary, repeat the test. Even this is open to the criticism that the abnormality may be evenly divided over the 5 series of 100 seeds each, but this is not very likely. At any rate, the chance for error is greatly reduced even if it is not entirely eradicated. NECESSITY OF STANDARDIZING GERMINATION TESTS. The investigator must not lose sight of the fact that, as yet, methods of testing coniferous seeds are not definitely worked out. Furthermore, seed testing is not an exact science for which a hard and fast set of rules to be invariably followed can be promulgated. The factors influencing any given seed test are too varied to be brought under exact control. Then, too, special methods must be evolved for special investigations, which still further complicates the problem. However, it is highly desirable that methods of making germination tests of coniferous tree seeds should be standardized as rapidly as is compatible with our increasing knowledge of the subject. This is absolutely essential if germination tests are to be of any but local value and if they are to be of practical use to the forest nurseries at large. For example, the relative value of the seed means nothing now if one sample of Douglas fir col- lected in the Cascade Mountains of Oregon gives a practical germination of 67 per cent and a final germination of 75 per cent while another collected in central Colorado gives a practical germination of 50 per cent and a final germination of 60 per cent unless the tests were made by the same establishment. Of course, it is evident that for exact experiments the comparative tests must be made at the same time, in the same place and under the same conditions ; but the results obtained from a standard method applied at all testing establishments would be sufficiently ac- curate and comparable to prove of great value in nursery and field sowing. OUTLINE FOR PRELIMINARY REPORT ON MINERAL CLAIMS. Professor E. F. Schramm. In 1914 there were 163 national forests in the United States covering a gross area of 185,511,957 acres. The majority of these forests are located in mountainous or semi-mountainous regions, which contain a considerable portion of the mineral wealth of the country. There is not a national forest in the United States that does not contain mineral wealth of some kind, and in the mountainous areas of the reserves the professional miners and prospectors are found assiduously prosecuting the search for precious, semi-precious, and non-metals. The United States Mining laws and regulations thereunder provide for the restoration of mineral or agricultural lands to the public domain, if located on the national forests and proven to be of more value for mineral or agricultural purposes than for the timber contained thereon. Because of this provision, the forest ranger, guard, or other field officer is frequently called upon to give preliminary reports upon newly established and unproven mineral claims. The following outline for reporting on mineral claims is com- piled with the hope that it may prove of some benefit to state or federal employees on national forests, to miners, or others who are asked to make a non-technical preliminary report on mineral claims, but who are not acting in the capacity of experts or pro- fessional geologists. The brief notes in this outline are intended only for the guidance of one who is called upon to make the first and preliminary report on the mining property to guide those in authority in determining whether a final detailed technical report should be made by a geologist, mining engineer, or mineral ex- pert. If the examination and report on the claim are made for the state or the United States Government, the examiner should specify in the heading of the report the name of the depart- ment or bureau under whose direction the work is being done, giving the land district and case designation if the claim is under litigation. If the examination is made for the United States Forest Service the name of the national forest on which the 90 Forest Club Annual claim is located should always be given. In submitting a report for corporations or individuals, give the name of such corpora- tions or individuals unless requested not to do so by the parties for whom the report is being made. For business reasons, it is sometimes ill-advised to give publicity to your employers, there- fore it is frequently highly commendable to submit your report to the well-known, but fictitious character, John Doe. I. CLAIMANT 1. Give name of the claimant or claimants in full, and complete address, that is, both business and residence addresses. 2. Ascertain if present claimant is the person who originally filed on the claim. If not, give the date of present claimant's occupancy, and chain of title if possible. (If the report is for the United States Forest Service, it is not so important that the examiner give in detail the chain of title, for usually this information can be more readily obtained by some member of the office force than by the field men). II. CLAIM, SITUATION, AND SURROUNDINGS 1. Give the name of the claim, and names or numbers designating prospects or mines located on holdings. 2. Give the exact location of the claim and of prospects or mines thereon. 3. If the land has been surveyed, describe by legal subdivisions, otherwise by prominent and, where possible, permanent natural land marks. 4. Give the distance and direction from the nearest town, village. or postoffice. 5. Name the mineral district, county and state. 6. If claim is clearly staked out, note fact. 7. If the claim is one of several included within a group, as an individual holding within an association, give name of group and association. 8. If patent has not been granted to claimant, give date of loca- tion of claim and place where recorded. 9. If patent has been applied for, state the number of the ap- plication and the date on which it was made. III. TOPOGRAPHY 1. Describe in general the topography of the district with a detailed description of the drainage and relief of the claim in question. PLATE NO. I. Shales Sandstones Limestones Conglomerates Igneous Rocks Granite, Diorite, Gabbro, Diabase, etc. Fig. 1. — The symbols most commonly used by the Federal and State Geo- logical Surveys to represent different kinds of rocks. Outline for Preliminary Report on Mineral Claims 91 2. If necessary you should make a topographic map of the claim. If a map is not feasible describe carefully the general character of the surface or the broad topographic features giving the approximate lowest and highest elevations ; where repre- sented on the property, and the elevations of mine or prospect entries. 3. Give special attention to drainage and water supply, noting particularly whether there is sufficient water on the claim or in the immediate vicinity for mining purposes. 4. Describe the detailed configuration of the surface, the charac- ter of the soil, vegetation, and timber. 5. State whether the soil and topography are adapted to agri- cultural or grazing purposes, and if of more value for such purposes than for mining. 6. If the claim is located on a national forest, give special atten- tion to the amount, kinds, and condition of the timber on the various types of topography represented. A more detailed description of the timber should be given under a separate heading. IV. GEOLOGY — STRATIGRAPHY The forest officer who has not had some training in the study of stratigraphy and structure, and who is not familiar with the common rocks and rock-forming minerals should not attempt to give more than a general cross section of the ore deposit, with dip and strike readings. The richness and course of the vein or deposit are the important factors and for this reason the subject of dip and strike is illustrated and dis- cussed at some length under the heading "structure". The United States Geological Survey has been engaged for a number of years in making a topographic survey and map of the United States. About one-half of the United States has been topographically mapped, and a general geological map has been compiled for North America. The Federal and State Geological Surveys have also published numerous detailed re- ports and maps of special areas throughout the United States. The forest officer who is asked to make a preliminary re- port upon mining claims should first secure from the State and Federal Geological Surveys all reports and maps covering the area in which the claims are located. An officer whose work is confined to one national forest should be as familiar with the geological formations and the various kinds of soils re- presented in his district as he is with the forest and grazing conditions. 92 Forest Club Annual In discussing the stratigraphy of a mining district, the examiner should carefully consult the geological reports pub- lished on that district before naming and describing the geolo- gical formations represented. Rocks should be described under the headings — Sedimentary or Stratified, Metamorphic, and Igneous. In making cross sections of the formations repre- sented on a claim the various types of rock should be designated by the symbols illustrated in figure 1. These symbols are used in State and Federal Geological Survey reports. In a preliminary report, a convenient method of showing the character of the strata is to combine a photograph with ex- planatory columnar section^ especially if the ore occurs in bedded deposits. The method is illustrated in figure 2 show- ing massive limestone interbedded with shales in a quarry face. V. STRUCTURE 1. Under the heading "structure", describe all intrusive forms, giving the general characteristics of the rock mass. 2. Discuss folding and faulting, giving numerous dip and strike readings in describing the folds, and if faults occur the amount and direction of displacement and the inclination of the fault. It is always essential that the dip and strike of the stratified rocks, coal beds, and mineral veins be given. Al- though it is usually a simple matter to take such readings with the compass, the inexperienced men in the work will have some difficulty in taking and recording such data. The dip of a bed or vein has been defined as "the angle of inclination which a tilted stratum makes with the plane of the horizon" and is measured in degrees. "The direction of the dip is the line of steepest inclination of the dipping bed." Thus we may say a stratum or vein has a dip of 20 degrees to the northeast. The angle of dip is measured with an instrument called a clinometer. Most of the compasses used by foresters and geologists are provided with clinometers. In measuring the dip of mineral veins and coal beds, one should secure as many readings as possible in mines and pros- pect holes in order to compensate the readings taken at the surface which are frequently not the true dips, since the out- crops are affected by terminal curvature (creep or slumping) of the vein at the surface. \ 1 s * V \ Oo Vc ^ 2» xD "x >x 00 h m ^ ^ c MS sm K?:fftf?kli \\ •HP- II . __ IT LH i|-L j : < !{_ !'ii SfitiVM1 f 4PM 1 FKJ ^ ^ ^| ^J I-**. > J; fr : 1 1 1 J «. K. n' ft - i| I |1 V \ M Outline for Preliminary Report on Mineral Claims 93 The strike is "the line of intersection formed by the dipping bed with the plane of the horizon, and is at right angles to the line of dip". As the direction of dip changes, the strike also changes, and therefore in highly folded rocks take numer- ous dip and strike readings. Strike should not be confused with outcrop which is due to erosion and is the irregular line along which a dipping bed cuts the surface of the ground. The Vig. 3. — Illustration of terminal curvature (creep or slumping) of fissure vein with stringers. The vein is broken over at the. surface and the outcrop shifted to lower level. Fig. 4. — Illustration of terminal curvature of coal vein, giving false dip of the vein at the surface. A. — Talus slope. B. — 'Coal "blossom". 94 Forest Club Annual outcrop is not referred to the plane of the horizon, but is con- trolled by the topography. It is only when the surface of the ground is level, or the strata are in a vertical position that out- crop and strike become coincident. Mining law does not always recognize the geologist's de- finition of "strike" or vein. The Courts use the term "course" as synonymous with "strike" and define the "course" or "strike" of a vein as "its continuous apex", that is, "the path of the apex across the country if the vein outcrops, (or if the apex out- crops, as the Courts state it) or the wandering direction taken by that apex underground, if it does not outcrop". The mining law acts define "strike" as about synonymous with the geolo- gists' conception of "outcrop". The Courts define "apex" in its application to veins as the end or edge of a vein nearest the surface, or the highest part of a vein along its entire course. In several legal cases, "top", "apex", and "outcrop" have been used synonymously. Fig. 6. — Ground plan illustrating outcrop, strike and dip. Outline for Preliminary Report on Mineral Claims 95 VI. MEASURING INCLINED STRATA It is a simple matter to measure the thickness of a forma- tion or a bedded deposit such as a coal vein or a brick shale, if the strata are in a horizontal or vertical position. Horizontal beds are inconvenient to measure only when covered with debris or talus. Usually, however, horizontal strata are suf- ficiently well exposed along valley and canyon walls to secure measurements without resorting to boring to determine the thickness. If the strata are vertical the beds are practically uninfluenced by the form of the surface and the outcrop is the true thickness of the strata. It is obvious that a line measured across the strike of an exposure of vertical beds gives the exact thickness. Most sedimentary formations have been tilted at angles of greater or lesser degree and the thickness of inclined beds must be computed from the width of the Fig. 8. — Diagram to illustrate how the thickness of a stratum may be determined from the angle of dip and the width of the surface expos- ure. Width of outcrop multiplied by the sine of the angle of dip gives the true width of stratum (after Hobbs). exposure and the angle of dip ; or graphically estimated by il- lustrating the width of surface exposure and the inclination of strata, after which it is a simple matter to draw a line at right angles to the dip from the base to the top of the formation and scale the thickness. When obtained by computation, with the width of ex- posure and angle of dip given, the exposure width is multiplied by the sine of the angle of dip. 96 Forest Club Annual Charles Maclaren in his Geology of Fife and the Lothians, gives the following rule for estimating the thickness of a formation in the field : "If the breadth of inclined strata be measured across their outcrop, at right angles to the strike, their true thickness will be equal to one-twelfth of their apparent thickness for every 5 degrees of inclination." Or the rule may be stated thus : Divide 60 by the dip, and you obtain the fraction which ex- presses the thickness. Thus suppose a series of strata meas- ures across the strike 1200 feet — if the dip of the beds be 5 degrees their thickness is one-twelfth, or 100 feet; if the dip be 10 degrees the thickness is one-sixth, or 200 feet; with a dip of 15 degrees we get a thickness of one-fourth, or 300 feet; and a thickness of one-third, or 400 feet, when the dip is 20 degrees. The rule is sufficiently correct for field purposes up to an inclination of 45 degrees. Figure 8 illustrates the method of computing thickness from the width of exposure and the angle of dip. VII. ORE BODIES 1. If the ore bodies occur as veins, give: a. Width, maximum and average. b. Character of the ore or vein filling. c. Character of walls or country rock. d. Throw or displacement of walls, if any. e. Dip and strike of vein. f. Location of apex of vein. g. Character of ore at outcrop and below the surface. 2. If the vein or ore body contains "horses," lenticular masses of ore surrounded by country rock, or large concretionary masses of foreign mineral and rock substances, give : a. Number, size, location, and material. b. Name the gangue minerals. 3. If the ore occurs as beds or lenses, give: a. Number and regularity of lenses. b. Character of walls, dip, and strike. c. Shape, and size (always giving maximum and average width). The width of a vein or bedded deposit at the outcrop is not always the true width, being affected by the inclination of the vein, strata or interbedded deposit, and by the ground plan or topography. When the strata are inclined the outcrop will be broad if the dip is low, and narrow if high. If the Outline for Preliminary Report on Mineral Claims 97 strata are vertical the true thickness is shown and strike and outcrop become coincident. Fig. 9. — Width of an outcrop affected by angle of dip (after Geikie). Fig. 10. — Width of outcrop affected by lorm of ground. The beds 1, 2, and 3 are of equal thickness but their outcrops vary in width, owing to the topography. Bed 1, appearing on flat land, yields a broad outcrop (after Geikie). VIII. COAL BEDS 1. Take numerous dip and strike readings at different points on the outcrop or at the mine faces. 2. Measure the width of the vein at different outcrops and in all mines and prospects located on the claim. Notice par- ticularly pinching, swelling and parting of the vein, if such conditions prevail — also the character of the vein throughout the coal field as a whole, and its relation to other veins. 3. Describe the physical properties of the coal, giving color, luster, cleavage, hardness of weathered and unweathered samples, and size of lumps on air slacking. 4. Give thickness of shale or "bone" partings, if any. Give the kind of rock composing the hanging and foot walls. 5. Collect samples for analyses, following method outlined by the United States Geological Survey. The following rules in sampling coal mines have been adopted by the United States Geological Survey : 98 Forest Club Annual a. Never accept weathered coal but select a fresh face of coal at the point where the sample is to be obtained and clean it of ail powder stains and other impurities. b. Spread a piece of waterproof cloth upon the floor so as to catch the particles of coal as they are cut and to keep out impurities and excessive moisture where the floor is wet. Such a cloth should be about 1 ^ by 2 yards in size and spread so as to catch all the material cut down. c. Cut a channel perpendicularly across the face of the coal bed from roof to floor, with the exceptions noted in paragraph (d), and of such size as to yield at least 5 pounds of coal per foot of thickness of coal bed, that is, 5 pounds for a, bed 1 foot thick, 10 pounds for a bed 2 feet thick, 20 pounds for a bed 4 feet thick, etc. d. Include in the sample all material encountered in the cut, except partings or binders more than three-eighths of an inch in thick- ness and lenses or concretions of sulphur or other impurities greater than two inches in maximum diameter and one-half inch in thickness. Care should be exercised to keep the groove of uniform size throughout without regard to the material en- countered. e. If the sample is wet take it out of the mine and dry it until all sensible moisture has been driven off. f. If the coal is not visibly moist, pulverize and quarter it down inside the mine to avoid changes in moisture, which take place rapidly when fine coal is exposed to different atmospheric con- ditions. Pulverize the coal until it will pass through a sieve with one-half inch mesh, and mix it thoroughly so that the larger particles are evenly distributed throughout the mass. After mixing divide the sample into quarters and reject opposite quarters. Repeat the operation of mixing and quartering until a sample of desired size is obtained. When the work has been properly done, a quart sample is sufficient for chemical analysis. Seal the sample in either a glass jar or a screw top can, with adhesive tape over the joint. g. The analysis of such a sample will show the grade of coal that may be obtained by careful mining and picking. Generally the sulphur and ash in the commercial output of the mine will ex- ceed the amount shown by the analysis, but the commercial com- position can be approximated by multiplying the analytical re- sults by the empirical coefficients 1.06 for sulphur and 1.29 for ash. h. Accompany each sample by a complete description stating where and how the sample was obtained and what it represents. i. In publishing analyses give full descriptions, as noted above, to- gether with the name of the collector, date of collection, name of analyst, and treatment of sample after it was collected. IX. SALTING Adopt some method to protect the samples of ore or coal, which you have collected for analysis, against the attempts Outline for Preliminary Report on Mineral Claims 99 of deeply interested but unscrupulous persons to "saltu or "high grade" your samples. The writer regrets that it is necessary to dwell even briefly upon this point, but a number of years experience in examining mining properties has con- vinced him that the highly honored moral precept "believe all men honest until proven dishonest" is not a highly practical one to follow unless applied with a judicious amount of skepticism. The popular slogan ''safety first" is more to the point and should be practiced assiduously by the mining engineer, geologist or others, in collecting samples for analysis and keeping them intact until they are delivered to the chemist. It is a simple matter to mark coal cans or ore specimens with some system of coinciding lines in such a manner that the collector can detect at a glance those samples which have been molested. X. NUMBERING Number all samples for analysis as soon as collected, recording the number and description of the samples at once. A convenient method of numbering is to give the specimen a serial number with the date on which it was collected, giving the serial number first, then the day, month and year as 1-26-4-15. If fifty specimens are collected on the date given, they would be numbered 1 to 50 inclusive with the added date numerals 26-4-15. Such a system often enables the collector to identify specimens, or at least recall the locality where collected, with- out reference to his notes and is especially convenient in case the collector should lose his notebook. Frequently a part of the specimens collected are kept for future reference and it is sometimes necessary that the inspector know the date on which the specimen was collected. The system of numbering just described gives this information immediately without re- ference to notes. XI. MINE AND PROSPECT HOLES State specifically whether the entry is a shaft, slope, adit or tunnel and give complete dimensions. In measuring the length of an adit or tunnel, as it is frequently called, record only one half the length of the open cut. The claimant in filing his statement of improvements naturally wishes to make a complete and comprehensive report and in his enthusiasm will fre- quently add to the length of his adit, by recording twenty feet of open cut, whereas the miner in his excavating bill has 100 Forest Club Annual charged for only ten feet of open cut. It is also very an- noying and misleading to the officers in the land and district offices, to whom reports are submitted, to have one examiner's report vary widely from another's in regard to dimensions of entries, when it is known that both reports were made at about the same time. The discrepancies in such reports are usually due not to errors in measurement but to the fact that one examiner has given the full length of the open cut while another has allowed only one half. Fig. 11 illustrates a common form of open cut, showing that the prolonged rectangle contains only about one-half the rock mass included within an equal length of the adit. 2. Give depth below water level, number and extent of levels — cross cuts and rooms. 3. Describe the mine drainage, pumps used, size and kind. 4. State: a. Whether ventilation is sufficient or insufficient, natural or artificial. If artificial, is furnace or fan used. b. The kind of lighting system used. c. The kind of explosives used. d. Character of mine gas, if any. e. Kinds of machinery in use. 5. Describe mode of working. 6. Describe kind of haulage. 7. Describe character of timbering. There are so many different methods and materials used in timbering mines that it is very important that it be care- fully described as it is an essential factor in estimating cost of improvements. XII. RELATION To OTHER CLAIMS Claims may be located in so-called mineral districts, yet be barren of ore deposits or coal beds. In every case in- volving doubtful or undeveloped claims, the relation of such claims to other producing or non-producing claims in the im- mediate vicinity should be given. Coal veins, for instance, do not usually remain constant in thickness on the strike of the beds. Many claims are filed upon as coal or mineral land because they happen to adjoin a claim which contains a work- able vein. The vein in question may outcrop on the proven valid claim and be dipping away from the new location thereby proving it to be entirely barren. A claim which is exploited as coal or mineral land may contain little else but highly car- bonaceous shale or an oxidized surface, and entry is frequently Outline for Preliminary Report on Mineral Claims 101 made on such land in good faith. The claim may be much more valuable for timber, agricultural purposes, or water rights than it is for mineral, and if so the examiner's report should be detailed, explicit and comprehensive on this point. XIV. MAPS AND DRAWINGS Either detailed or sketch maps should be submitted with report, showing boundaries of claim; topography; location of prospects, shafts or tunnels ; discovery point ; course of vein ; vein ; bed or lode ; location of buildings, roads, ditches, flumes, sluices, pipe lines and other improvements. The map should show the relative location of each claim, and the relation of the general development of the field to the particular claim in question. In addition to a map of the underground workings a cross, longitudinal and columnar sections of the coal bed or ore body should be made. XIV. PHOTOGRAPHS Where possible, photograph coal beds and ore bodies. Photograph types of topography on claim and all improve- ments. A photograph attached to a report, showing claim located in an area of igneous rocks barren of soil and vegeta- tion is also evidence of good faith on the part of the claimant, since it is evident that it was not filed upon for the timber it contains or for agricultural purposes. XV. DEVLOPMENT WORK AND IMPROVEMENTS State the amount, character, and approximate date of development work. Describe all improvements in detail, being careful to give the exact size and location of buildings and use of sa,me. The amount and kind of machinery. Location and dimensions of ditches, canals, flumes or other water conduits. Give your estimate of the original cost of all improve- ments and development work, such as buildings, mining ma- chinery, conduits, timbering, excavations, trails and roads. Give your estimate of the present value of all improvements. Give also estimates made by claimants. XVI. TIMBER State the amount and kind of timber on claim. If any timber has been cut on claim, give amount, by whom cut, and if used on the claim state for what purpose. As a matter of opinion state whether you believe the claim is more valuable for the timber it contains than the coal or ore for which it is being exploited. 102 Forest Club Annual XVII. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION Give the names and addresses of all persons who have examined the property previous to your examination. State whether you think the claimant is acting in good faith, and whether he has complied wtih the law in regard to the de- velopment of the property. Give the names of witnesses who accompanied you during your examination of the property. In your conclusion discuss the merits of the property, and make recommendations accordingly. Give the date on which you examined the claim and the date of your report. If submitting a report on a number of claims in the same field, each individual report should be signed instead of using onlv signature on letters of transmittal. NOTE. Field officers in the U. S. Forest Service may find it conven- ient to have at their disposal the following maps and reports published by the U. S. Geological Survey: 1. Sheet of Conventional signs. Shows symbols and abbrevia- tions adopted by the U. S. Geographic Board and recommended for use on Government maps. Size 20 by 33 inches. 2. Sheet of lettering and conventional signs. Shows lettering and symbols used on the topographic maps of the U. S. Geo- logical Survey. Size 16 % by 20 inches. 3. A Geologic map of North America. 4. A relief or hypsometric map, 18 by 28 inches, on a scale of 110 miles to 1 inch approximately. 5. Contour map of U. S., size 18 by 28. G. A base map 11 by 10 inches, on a scale of 190 miles to 1 inch, approximately. 7. Map of the States west of longitude 102° showing the mining districts, 34 by 49 inches, on a scale of 1:2,500,000 (approxi- mately 40 miles to 1 inch). 8. Professional Paper 71. — Index to the Stratigraphy of North America. 9. Bulletin 507. Mining Districts of Western U. S. 10. Bulletin 424. The Valuation of Public Coal Lands. The following papers which should be included are published by the general land office: 11. United States Mining Laws and Regulations Thereunder. 12. Coal Land Laws and Regulations Thereunder. G-H si H w SOME DEVELOPMENTS IN REFORESTATION ON THE NATIONAL FORESTS. C. R. Tillotson '09. Reforestation on the National Forests has come within the last half-dozen years to be one of the main activities of the Forest Service. At present, the plans call for the planting or sowing of about 16,000 acres yearly. This work can be con- sidered one of the world's big reforestation projects. The com- plexity of conditions which have been met and the lack of ex- perience in western work is making the solution of the problem somewhat difficult. The expenditure of money which it involves, however, has made necessary careful attention to details; and developments, accordingly, both in nursery practice and sowing and planting have been rapid enough to be very encouraging. As some of these developments may be interesting, they are set forth in the following pages. NURSERY PRACTICE. Nursery practice works toward two things: (1) The pro- duction of stock of a type most likely to succeed when field planted; and (2) its production at the lowest possible cost. The developments in nursery practice have accordingly been guided by these two fundamentals. A perfect unanimity of opinion of the type of stock towards which nursery practice should strive has not yet been reached for all conditions, but in general it is conceded that trees with a well-balanced system of roots and tops are the most ideal type. The root system should be ten to twelve inches in depth, bushy, and provided with an abundance of root hairs. The tops should be compact and preferably not over four to five inches in height. The age of the stock is of no particular significance except as it indicates the foregoing qualities. Through experiments it has been found that in soils of a loose composition a better type of root system is formed than in those of a heavy compact character. In soils, further, which are kept moderately fresh through watering, better root systems are formed than where the plants are given very little water with the idea of approximating the conditions which would obtain for 104 Forest Club Annual the stock after it is planted in the field. Transplanting almost invariably results in the production of stock with more evenly balanced roots and tops. The shock of transplanting retards top development and stimulates root development. Through judicious watering, however, seedling stock of western yellow pine and Douglas fir is being produced at some Forest Service nurseries which is apparently nearly the equal of the transplants at the same nurseries. The practice of root-pruning stock in place has not yet been given the attention which would seem to be war- ranted. Through this practice it is quite probable that root- pruned seedling stock can be developed which will be the equal of and produced at less cost than transplant stock. It is quite generally recognized that the use of fertilizer in some form is quite essential to maintain a nursery at its best productive capacity. Because Forest Service nurseries are lo- cated at some distance from large centers it is becoming more and more difficult to secure animal manures in sufficient quantities at reasonable rates. Very little experience has been had with commercial fertilizers, but eventually these will undoubtedly come more and more into use. The use of green fertilizers, that is, cover crops, is already being practiced at a number of nurseries and this method of fertilizing is bound to be favored more in the future. Cowpeas, clover, and Mexican beans are used for this purpose and other lupines will undoubtedly find favor. The use of green fertilizers improves both the physical and chemical qualities of the soil. The results of two or three experiments with fertilizers are interesting. At the Wind River Nursery in Washington, Douglas fir seed- lings in beds treated with horse manure were considerably darker in color than those in untreated beds ; the germination was in- creased and hastened in the former; the seedlings were 43 per cent heavier and 9 per cent taller ; they were less uniform in size ; top development was increased far more than that of the roots ; fall hardening was retarded in the fertilized beds ; and the frost injury was five times as great as in the unfertilized. At the Halsey Nursery in Nebraska, it has been found that better germination is secured with jack pine seed where a moder- ate amount of manure is applied some time previous to the sow- ing of the seed. An experiment in liming the soil at the Converse Flats Station in California resulted in the transplants of incense and deodar cedars and western yellow pine making one to two inches more of top growth, and in the development of a more fibrous root system than in unlimed beds. With Jeffrey pine, there was no additional increase in top growth. Some Developments in Reforestation on National Forests 105 The reduction of costs in a nursery comes about through im- proved methods in nursery practice and by prevention of losses. Fortunately, it often happens that improvement of stock and re- ductions of cost go hand in hand. Thus, in Forest Service work, the small ranger nurseries of five to ten thousand plants capacity yearly are being eliminated and the production of stock is being concentrated at large nurseries.. It is found that not only can better stock be produced at such nurseries but it can be grown with less cost. At present the great bulk of nursery stock used by the Forest Service is grown in fourteen nurseries each with a'capacity of over 50,000 yearly ; several of these have a capacity of over one million, and one has a capacity of four million. Because of overhead charges which are likely to be nearly as great for small as for large nurseries, those of one million capacity or over per year are preferable to smaller ones from the stand- point of costs. At the larger nurseries, also, more efficient methods in growing and handling the stock are worked out with the consequent production of a better class of trees. The importance of carefully choosing the nursery site has been emphasized at some of the Forest Service nurseries. Thus at one of them, due to severe winter winds and lack of snow, it is necessary to cover the stock with brush to prevent winter killing. This, of course, adds to the cost of the stock. At another nursery severe losses have been experienced from frosts, and the danger of such losses is always present. At still another nursery, there is an excessive winter snowfall which sometimes reaches a level height of seven to eight feet. Douglas fir, which has been one of the main species grown there, suffers severely under this snow. The probable cause of this is a combination of snow and some fungus. Sites where a moderate fall of snow covers the plants all winter appear to be the most desirable for nurseries. Those with slopes over two to three per cent should be avoided because of the difficulties encountered in washing of the soil and in irrigating if this method of watering is followed. Some rather fundamental facts have been developed in regard to pipe line water systems. These are : 1. To facilitate its cleaning out, a water reservoir should have an outlet besides that of the distributing pipe line. 2. To prevent sand or gravel from getting into the system and clogging nozzles or sprinklers, the pipe at the intake should be covered with a coarse and a fine screen. 3. There should be one gate valve next to the reservoir, one on the main pipe just before it reaches the nursery area, and others at the junction of each lateral to the main pipe. 106 Forest Club Annual 4. The pipe line should have union connections at intervals of approximately 100 feet and at the junction of each branch with another one. These will save the necessity of digging up the entire line when there is a part to be mended. 5. There should be a plug or preferably a gate valve at the lower end of each branch of the pipe line. These will enable the washing out of the pipes in case they become clogged and also their draining for the winter. The necessity of shading seedlings has been given consider- able attention in all nurseries and it has developed that the need for it is not nearly so great as was formerly thought. This is particularly true of western yellow pine which has been grown more extensively than any other species in Forest Service nur- series. It is now grown at the majority of these without shade. The same nonnecessity of shade has also been found true, al- though to a lesser extent, with other species. This is particularly true if the seeds are sown in the fall so that the plants have made a good initial growth before the advent of the most trying sum- mer weather. For shading, the high type of shade frame is less in favor than formerly. It is now used at only three of the nurseries. It has cheapness of construction and some other features to com- mend it, but from the general standpoint of manipulation of shade, preparation of beds, and protection against rodents and birds, it is not so effectual as the low type of frame. The broadcasting of seedbeds is more general than formerly. It is thought that more stock of a better form can be produced per square foot through this practice than from sowing in drills. Depending on the species, time of sowing, and region, the densities striven for per square foot are from 150 to 250 if the seedlings are to remain one year in the seedbed and about half this if they are to remain two years. The losses from transplanting are in general less than ten per cent, although occasionally they run considerably higher. Fall transplanting has proven unsuccessful at every nursery where it has been tried due to either winter killing or heaving. It is a practice which is strongly out of favor. Spring transplanting is followed in all Forest Service nurseries, and with this it has de- veloped that the earlier in the spring the operation is accomplished after the soil can be worked, the less will be the losses resulting from it. A month's delay has doubled the mortality per cent. In transplanting, the old slow methods of hand work or the use of dibble have been entirely abandoned. Transplant boards are used at all nurseries. These are of two types : The familiar Some Developments in Reforestation on National Forests 107 "Mast Board" with its several counterparts, with each of which the seedlings are strung in the notches while the board is resting on a threading table ; and the "Michigan Board" with which the seedlings are strung in the notches as the board lies on the transplant bed with its notched edge flush with the trench in which the seedlings are to be transplanted. With this latter type of board, one or two men perform the whole operation of transplanting; that is, they first dig the trench, then string the seedlings in the board (the roots hanging in the trench) as it lies on the ground, and then fill in with dirt and tamp it around the roots. Both types of boards are effective and a good average rate of transplanting for each of them is about 600 plants per man per hour or 5,000 per day. Rates considerably in excess of this are sometimes reached. An improvement has recently been made in the Mast type of board by providing the slat which holds the seedlings in place with a clamp hinge. This clamp presses the slat firmly against the seedlings and does away with the need for the small buttons which have been a part of the board. Improvements in nursery equipment are constantly being worked out which tend to reduce costs of nursery operations. At the Monument Nursery, where drill sowing is still practiced, a drill marker has recently been devised which is considered an improvement over old methods. A cylindrical roller with a cement core to give it weight has been constructed. On the sur- face of this cylinder, cleats have been nailed longitudinally and at distances apart equal to the distance desired between drills in the seedbeds. This cylinder is rolled over the surface of seed- beds and the drills are formed rapidly and effectively by the im- pressions of the cleats. The need of a spade or hand trencher for preparing transplant trenches bids fair to be eliminated at the Savenac Nursery through the construction of a plow with a short moldboard which has been tried for this purpose and bids fair to be successful. At this nursery, transplanting is con- ducted in long rows. Where transplanting in short rows is prac- ticed, this tool could not be used. A similar plow is used for dig- ging stock at the Monument Nursery, supplanting the old method of digging it by hand with a spade. For operations at the Halsey Nursery, where the sandy soil makes the use of such a tool pos- sible, another type has recently been constructed for digging stock. It is simply a wedge-shaped knife seven feet long, twelve inches wide, and six inches thick in the rear which is mounted on a steel frame and can be drawn under the beds at regulated depths. As the trees are loosened, they are crowded out over the wedge by the forward movement of the implement. The digger is 108 Forest Club Annual drawn by a horse-operated capstan and steel cable and travels at the rate of six feet per minute. SOWING AND PLANTING. Success in reforestation is so interrelated with nursery prac- tice that the development of the latter is largely guided by the necessities of the former. After the kind of stock necessary for successful planting is produced, reforestation becomes largely a matter of organization of the work to carry it on as cheaply as possible. This is not wholly true, however, since in reforesta- tion operations such questions as the relative value of sowing versus planting, the time of year most suitable for the opera- tions, and the best methods to pursue must be worked out. An immense amount of sowing has been conducted on the National Forests, but in the main it has proven unsuccessful. Lack of success has been attributed largely to rodents which devour the seed, and to unfavorable weather conditions for the two or three year period following germination of the seed. It has developed that the success of either a sowing or planting operation cannot be judged by the results six months or a year after completion of the operations. Sowing on a large scale has been consistently successful only with lodgepole pine on the Arapaho National Forest of Colorado. On the Black Hills Na- tional Forest of South Dakota, sowing of western yellow pine has been intermittently successful. On these two Forests only will seed sowing on a large scale be practiced until experiments* on a small scale prove its advisability elsewhere. In sowing, seed spotting is more likely to prove successful than broadcasting, although this latter method is at present fol- lowed with lodgepole pine on the Arapaho. The fall of the year has in general proven preferable to spring for direct seeding, but in the Black Hills some success has been achieved through sowing either in the spring or fall. In planting, the spring of the year is, over the greater part of the West, thought to be decidedly preferable to fall. It is considered essential to begin operations as soon as possible after the snow leaves the site. Often they are started before it has entirely disappeared. In southwestern Oregon and in California, fall planting is, from a climatic viewpoint, considered preferable. The most successful all-around tool for planting operations is the grub-hoe, or mattock. The common form is sometimes slightly modified, as, for instance, in very rocky regions, the cut- ting blade of the mattock may be replaced by a pick, or the dig- Some Developments in Reforestation on National Forests 109 ging blade may be considerably longer than that of the common mattock found on the market. With the better grade of stock now produced in the nurser- ies and with adequate supervision of planting operations, the advantage of such careful methods of planting as the cone method is so slight as to be more than counterbalanced by the greater speed of other methods. Planting in the middle of the hole or against its side is now the most common practice. In extensive operations spacings which will give not more than 800 trees per acre is the rule for all species. While from a silvicultural standpoint different species should be given different spacings and some sites should be planted more thickly than others even with the same species, our knowledge of what con- stitutes normal stands of the western species at different ages is not sufficient to enable a determination of the best silvicul- tural spacing for each species. Experience has demonstrated that the use of one year old coniferous seedling stock in field planting is practically certain to result in failure. Two year old seedlings or transplants will probably predominate in the future, particularly with the western yellow pine, and also with the Pacific Coast form of Douglas fir. With the Rocky Mountain form of Douglas fir, with the western white pine, and with Engelmann spruce, three year old seedlings or transplants of the first, and three year old transplants of the latter two appear to be the best stock. A number of exotic species have been given a trial on the National Forests but largely with poor success, except with maritime pine in Florida ; and, too, the extension of the altitudinal ranges of species has not met with decided success. In the future both planting operations and nursery production will probably be concerned with only a few species largely native to their respective regions. These will be jack, Norway, and eastern white pine for the Lake States ; jack and western yellow pine for the sandhill region of Nebraska ; western yellow pine, Douglas fir, and Engelmann spruce for the Southern Rocky Mountains, with western white pine in addition for the Northern Rockies ; Douglas fir, western yellow pine, western white pine, and noble fir for the northwest Pacific Coast region; and western yellow pine, Jeffrey pine, Douglas fir, red fir, and white fir for Cali- fornia. In all there are only eleven species with which the greater proportion of artificial reforestation will be accomplished. Other species will be given attention but only to a minor extent. FOREST TYPES OF THE COEUR D'ALENE MOUN- TAINS AND THEIR DETERMINING FACTORS. Professor Wm. W. Morris. The Coeur d'Alene mountain country of northern Idaho is one of marked topographic features. It is a country of steep slopes, narrow ridges, and narrow canyons. Such sharp features as these produce two well defined regions of vastly dissimilar site conditions, and as a result over each of these regions the principal tree species found are entirely different. These great general types, therefore, the result of the above mentioned marked physical factors, are quite distinct ones and are bounded by fairly sharp and clear lines. In this respect the Coeur d'Alene country is quite different from a more level country. In the latter there is usually a gradual transition from one type to another due to the fact that there is no marked line of physical change to produce a corresponding marked effect on the plant societies within its environs. The climate of the Coeur d'Alene country is a fairly moderate one. The temperature rarely falls much below 0° Fahrenheit and the summers are seldom extremely hot. In the higher river bot- toms frost may be expected almost any month of the year. This condition limits the crops which can be raised in these narrow valleys mainly to root crops and hay, both of which do exceed- ingly well. The annual precipitation of the region is approxi- mately forty inches. The soil is in general deep and rich. One analysis made from a small area showed an abnormal amount of phosphorus present. The soil might be described in general as a silty loam, the result of disintegrated quartzite rock. Owing to the fact that the ruggedness of the country makes impossible the use of the plow and that the climate limits the productivity of the land for agricultural purposes, we have in the Coeur d'Alene mountains a permanent forest area splendidly adapted for raising timber of a high commercial value. THE FOREST TYPES. A large part of this region can be divided into two great types, namely, the western white pine type and the Douglas fir Forest Types of the Coeur d'Alene Mountains 111 type. These types are based entirely on the physical features of the country and might be termed the management types, or those types which, under proper forest management, it is hoped will eventually represent the areas. There are also found two management types of less im- portance, the yellow pine type and the alpine type. These cover only a comparatively small area and do not produce timber of so high a commercial value as is found in the white pine type. What has here been termed the western white pine type might also be called the western hemlock-lowland fir type. And possibly this is a more appropriate name as hemlock and fir are the permanent or final type species. Western hemlock and low- land fir grow equally well on the same site conditions as the western white pine. Unless, then, the forest can be opened up in some manner by fire or cutting, western hemlock and lowland fir, by reason of their tolerance, will come in under heavy stands of western white pine. The white pine type, although only a temporary one, has been so named because it is the type sought after, white pine being the most valuable timber in the region, and also because white pine is the most widely distributed tree for the region as a whole. For this locality, therefore, it is the great management type. These management types are quite distinct from the cover types, which simply show as closely as possible the actual cover or stand existing on the area at the present time. The cover type is named from one, two or sometimes three of the leading species on the area. It can readily be seen that for mixed stands the problem of assigning a definite area to such a type is a diffi- cult one. The western white pine type can be divided into the follow- ing cover types, determined by the occurrence of western white pine with other species. 1. Western white pine type proper. 2. Western hemlock — western white pine type. 3. Western hemlock — red cedar — western white pine type. 4. Western white pine — western larch type. 5. Hemlock — lowland fir type. The Douglas fir type can also be divided into two rough cover types as follows : 1. Douglas fir type proper. 2. Douglas fir — western larch type. 112 Forest Club Annual The difficulty of accurately determining a cover type in this region can be seen from these various mixtures. In some cases it is almost impossible to determine where such a type begins and where it ends. It means that a reconnaissance crew before start- ing on this work must have some standard to go by. For instance the white pine — hemlock cover type might be so designated that it should contain forty per cent hemlock or over by volume, with a corresponding amount of white pine. The white pine — cedar — hemlock type might be standarized by saying that it should contain 25 per cent or more of each species by volume. The above per cents are simply taken to show the principle and are not meant to indicate a correct figure. The impossibility of mapping these types in the field before the percentage by volume of each species is determined is readily seen. The above list of cover types might be added to almost in- definitely, determined by the varying mixtures and the fineness of detail wanted. As yet no standard rule has been adopted for such a classification of cover types by percentage of species in mixture and the reconnaissance man is often confronted with a hopeless problem. The cover types thus obtained are really not types at all but an attempt to show the principal species of timber and their location on a given area. A forest type is the result of the effect of similar site conditions. Therefore it would hardly seem proper, within the confines of such conditions, to indicate as a new type all the slight variations in composition, especially if such a type is determined arbitrarily by a certain increased percentage of one species or another. Such a division of the forest into cover types is however a most valuable one ; and it is more needed at the present time, probably, than a division into management types, especially in showing timbered areas to a prospective purchaser. A map made from such a division of the forest is purely a stand map and should not be confused with a type map. The stand map is of present value only, while the type map shows the potential value of the forest under manage- ment. CAUSE OF THE FOREST TYPES. What might be termed the indirect cause for the formation of the above described types is quite apparent, though the direct cause is not so easily determined. The indirect cause is the aspect or slope direction, which in turn determines the amount and angle of insolation received, and the velocity and amount of wind. These factors determine the rate of evaporation, the humidity of the air, and the rapidity of snow melting, or, summed up, the Forest Types of the Coeur d'Alene Mountains 113 moisture content of the soil. The wind factor also largely deter- mines the destructiveness of forest fires, which in baring the soil of plant life and humus has a decided effect on soil moisture. The effect of aspect in determining the factors which produce a certain type may be shown as follows : elting empera- Evapo Snow Soil t de r> W c/i •- ^ c\i 4-1 G w 2 "So ^ o^o £ T3 g ^3 ^ .s < > S 03 CJ ^>3 O> V3 £• II 1 These are probably the main factors chiefly influencing the formation of the two great types, though others might be men- tioned. Light of course is of great importance in influencing 114 Forest Club Annual the early growth of the seeding, and later growth of the tree; but the relative difference in light received on various aspects is probably not of sufficient importance to influence the type as determined by soil moisture. For instance, white pine will grow well on south slopes with proper moisture conditions although the white pine type is found on northerly slopes. The alpine and yellow pine types are determined usually by altitude, though in a given region soil and slope direction are im- portant local factors. FIRE A FACTOR IN TYPE FORMATION. Fire plays an important part in the formation of the above mentioned types. The southerly slopes, particularly the south- westerly ones, receiving the sun's rays more nearly perpendicu- larly and for longer periods of time soon become very dry. These exposures are subjected also to the prevailing, heaviest and warm- est winds. Consequently fires sweep over them with great fury, cleaning up everything before them ; but the fires travel slowly down the northern exposure, burning more lightly. The result is that only such thicker barked trees as the Douglas fir and western larch survive on the southerly slopes, the thinner barked trees, especially the western white pine, being killed at once. The resulting reproduction on these slopes is therefore Douglas fir and western larch, so that gradually this mixture becomes the prevailing type. Douglas fir being able to withstand more severe drought conditions than the western larch becomes predominant. Undoubtedly there are many of these southerly slopes which if given protection would grow splendid stands of white pine ; but up to the present time fire has been a great factor in the de- termination of the forest types growing upon them. In the future by proper protection and planting it may be possible to reconstruct the types considerably, so that the best southerly slopes may yield white pine timber, a much more valuable pro- duct than these slopes are at present producing. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF TYPES WITH SPECIES IN MIXTURE. The western white pine type is found generally on the northerly and easterly slopes. It contains the following species in mixture — western hemlock, lowland fir, western red cedar, and at higher elevations western larch and Douglas fir. The red cedar is usually found along the water courses and at slight elevations above them, and together with western white pine and hemlock form a distinct cover type. Lowland fir and western Forest Types of the Cocnr d'Alenc Mountains 115 hemlock are found mainly at low elevations, but may occur on the higher slopes. They are considered weed trees, as they are very aggressive and take hold on almost any site. On some of the best northerly slopes white pine occupies as much as 60 per cent of the stand by volume, this being the white pine cover type proper. With increase in elevation in this type western larch and Douglas fir appear in greater numbers, and near the summits of ridges these species may form a large per cent of the stand. A good stand in the western white pine type will run twenty-five thousand feet B. M. to the acre, though many acres will yield twice as much and a very few over four times as much. The Douglas fir type is found usually on the southerly and poorer westerly slopes. Douglas fir can stand more drought and adverse conditions than any of the other species and thus is the predominant tree on dry, shallow, stony soils. It is often found in mixtures with western larch and occasionally with low- land fir, white pine and hemlock. The Douglas fir — larch cover type consists of a mixture of the species from which it is named and is often found at the heads of basins and on the better sites on southerly slopes. This type often forms dense young stands. The yellow pine type is found chiefly in the Coeur d'Alene Lake region at low elevations, mainly on south slopes and the more sandy soils. It occurs mixed with Douglas fir, western larch and lodgepole pine. The alpine type is found at elevations from about five thousand to sixty-three hundred feet. The principal species comprising it are alpine hemlock, alpine fir, lodgepole pine, with an occasional white bark pine. Western larch and Douglas fir are also found in this type, and on the better lower sites western white pine. Englemann spruce is sometimes found in this type, though more often it is found with alpine fir in the higher basins and flats of the western white pine type. TYPE STANDARDIZATION. Standardization of forest types for a given region is much needed at the present time. A classification of types for general conditions has already been admirably worked out, but not in detail enough for some local conditions. It would be well in typing a country first to decide whether cover types or manage- ment types are wanted. If the former, it would be well to de- termine the names and number of the types to be used and then, 116 Forest Club Annual if possible, what per cent of the species in mixture will determine a certain type. This is a difficult task and especially so to a new field man who may be assigned the typing. It requires a thorough knowledge of the general conditions in order to know before- hand what types are wanted, and also considerable knowledge of the relative amounts of the various species in mixture. What is needed is a more systematic guide for the man in the field, who often bases his judgement of the type he is in on both the cover and the physical features and makes a poor combination of the two methods. The management type as established by the physical features of the country can be determined in a definite and systematic manner and the resultant data accurately mapped. This is not true however for some regions where physical features are not so marked. Variations in composition on a given area are often largely determined by the law of chance, but the physical factors are permanent. Such a basis for forest types is, I believe, the only solution for accurate work where the forest is a very composite one. Value of the so-called cover type, however, should not be underestimated. The cover or stand map is made to show the location and amount of the principal timber species on the forest and is invaluable in any sale of timber. For the present at least while the disposition of timber is of greater importance than its acquisition, the cover type will doubtless be of chief importance to the forester. WITH A DRY KILN IN THE NORTHWEST. Albert H. Miller '08. In passing from the lumbering district of the Rocky Moun- tains to that of the Pacific Northwest many striking changes will be observed. There is a comparatively sudden transition from one district to the other, the Cascade Mountains forming the relatively narrow transition zone. It is somewhat like walking from a children's playground, where everything is built on a miniature scale, to a park of their elders. To the timber, the logging operation, the sawmills, everything connected with the lumber industry, the term "big" is analogous. Instead of trees averaging from 16 to 20 inches in diameter, breast high, and 100 feet in height, there the trees are from 5 to 6 feet in diameter, on the average, and 200 feet and over in height. In- stead of the horse and chain for skidding and the single bunk sled for delivering logs to the mill yard, the donkey engine with heavy cable and the standard gauged railroad are used. And in place of the small portable mill, built in the valley beside a small, swift, mountain stream, with a capacity of from 12,000 to 15,000 feet B.M. a day, the gigantic mill, constructed along- side a lake, a river, or the Puget Sound itself, with a capacity of from 150,000 to 300,000 feet B. M. a day is found. The change, in fact, is so remarkable that at first one almost questions its reality. The reason for the enormous tree growth is perfectly evident when the climatic factors are taken into consideration. Con- ditions for growth are ideal. There is a comparative absence of heavy frost in winter, especially along the lowlands, and the rainfall is gentle. During the wet season the atmosphere is saturated to the point of a heavy mist practically continuously. To meet the largeness of the timber, the logging operations and the sawmills must of necessity be large. But even a more interesting feature, and that because of the comparative absence of it in the Central Rocky Mountains dis- trict, is the dry kiln. The dry kiln is found everywhere in the milling district — with the lumber mill, the shingle mill, the lath mill. Here, too, the term "big" plays a part. Kilns are of all sizes, ranging from 33 to 160 feet in length, 10 to 35 feet in 118 Forest Club Annual width, and 11 to 12 feet in height. Most of them are divided into from one to six chambers, and in some cases even more. In the matter of construction various materials are used. Many of the old kilns are of wood, but because of the fire danger that continually attends them they are going into disuse. They were easily and cheaply built. Kilns of brick, tile and concrete are extremely serviceable and are easily made air-tight, a neces- sary requirement for conserving the heat. Constructed from either one of these materials they become less susceptible to fire than those of wood, and that is a feature a lumberman must always have in mind. The question naturally arises as to why the mill owner goes to the expense of constructing a kiln and then adds to the cost of milling by running the lumber through it. He does so for two reasons, namely, to reduce the weight, and to reduce the moisture content of the lumber. In passing through the kiln the moisture content of Douglas fir is reduced from 30 to approximately 7 per cent, Sitka spruce from 37 to 8 per cent, hemlock from 70 to 10 per cent, and western red cedar from 65 to 10 per cent. If re- duced below 10 or 12 per cent the wood generally reabsorbs moisture from the air, thus bringing the moisture content back to the 10 or 12 percentage. The decrease in weight of the various woods is therefore evident. To reduce weight means a decrease in the shipping costs, and this is a big item since much of the lumber is shipped eastward over the mountains where freight rates are high. Moreover, in handling, by reason of the lighter lumber, the expense is further decreased. In reducing the moisture content many of the lighter oils contained in the pitch are volatilized. The pitch is then hardened and does not ooze out when the lumber is painted. Kiln-dried wood does not shrink or become deformed after being manufac- tured as does air-dried materials and when dampened it does not have a tendency to absorb enough moisture to increase in weight. Of the many different styles and types of dry kilns, the one connected with the sawmill of the Grays Harbor Commercial Company, Cosmopolis, Washington, has been selected for special study. This is located in the well known Grays Harbor country. With the exception of Sunday the mill operates day and night, and has a day capacity of 200,000 feet and a night capacity of 100,000 feet. The kiln, however, is never idle; it is busy all the time, Sundays included. A box factory and lath mill are operated in connection with the plant. For boxes spruce is used almost exclusively and for that reason about two-thirds With a Dry Kiln in the Northwest 119 of all lumber put through the drying process is of that material. The company also owns a shingle mill in close proximity, but as it has its own steam and dry kiln it is not connected in any way with the main plant. The kiln at the mill has five chambers and is constructed, with the exception of the roof, which is of wood with a tar paper covering and a plaster ceiling, entirely of reenforced con- crete. The walls are approximately 20 inches thick at the bottom and gradually taper to about 10 inches at the top. At different points they are made extra thick for strength. Each chamber is connected to the next with vents for freer circulation of air. In length each one is 112 feet, in width 25 feet, and in height 11 feet, with a space of from 3^ to 4y2 feet below the rails. At each end is a light asbestos door opened and shut on rolling hangers. The whole kiln is built on piles from 5 to 6 feet above the ground, because of the absence of otherwise solid footing. Non-draught with steam radiator pipes below is the method of drying. This is in contrast to the natural draught and the blower methods of many of the kilns in other mills. The former like the non-draught is heated with steam pipes below but has a circulation of air commencing from the bottom of the "dis- charge" end and exhausting through ventilators near the ceiling at the "charge" end. In the latter method, by means of a power- ful centrifugal fan a circulation is maintained in which the air passes through a furnace-like heater, circulates through the kiln and returns again to the fan. For furnishing heat, series of one inch pipes are laid between the three rails over which the lumber is placed. These pipes are •on a slight decline for drainage. There are three series of 64 pipes each and two of 12, giving a total of 216 pipes, each of which is 98 feet long. This gives a total of 21,168 feet of radiating pipe for each chamber, or 105,840 feet for the entire kiln, beside the two inch connecting pipes. Approximately one-third of the output of the mill was kiln- dried. In 1913, 574 cars or 2,755,200 feet B. M. were run through in March ; 647 cars or 3,105,600 feet in April ; and 596 cars or 2 - 940,800 feet in May. This gives a daily average of nearly 100,000 feet B. M. From all observations a greater percentage of material was kiln-dried at this mill than at the average mill of this entire region. But it is perhaps safe to assume that one- fourth of the entire output reaches the kilns; and if such is the case, then the yearly kiln-dried lumber amounts to approximately one billion feet B.M. for Washington and half that amount for Oregon, 120 Forest Club Annual Judging from these figures it is not to be wondered at that dry kilns play such an important part in the lumber industry of the Northwest. It is quite interesting to observe the process of preparing the lumber for the kiln. All the lumber, except larger sizes three or four inches thick, are stacked vertically, that is, on edge. The advantage of piling in this manner lies in the fact that it per- mits of a free circulation of the air. Heated air has a tendency to move upward in place of outward which must happen when the air space is horizontal. Special machinery has been in- stalled. Lumber on sorting table before being placed in troughs for the stackers. Grays Harbor Commercial Co. Saw Mill, Cosmopolis, Washington. The lumber is taken from the mill by means of three chains, arranged in parallels, up an incline and deposited on a sorting table. Here it is fed vertically into troughs, 12 inches deep, of which there are seven in number for seven different classes of material, and conveyed by a succession of live rollers to seven different stacker tables. The stackers work in pairs and drop the boards between the three stationary upright posts and three I-beams, 9 feet 3 inches long, placed in sockets in three single trucks. The trucks are made by placing together two channel 4 inch bars, 6Vi> feet long, with a 3^4 mcn space between. This gives room for the two 6 inch wheels placed one near each end. Rails upon which the three trucks are placed are 6% feet apart. As the tier is filled, which is usually to the height of 8Vi> With a Dry Kiln in the Northwest 121 feet, the trucks are pushed forward. Stickers, 9 feet !/2 inch long, 13/16 inch thick and from 2 to 3 inches wide, are inserted above each truck in line behind the I-beams and a new tier is begun. These stickers give space for the circulation of air in the kiln. Tier after tier is added until the trucks are filled and then another I-beam is placed in each of the sockets at the other ends of the trucks. Beams opposite each other are bound firmly together by rings or loops of 7/16 inch iron. The load is now known as a car. It is then pushed out and another set of trucks put in place. Stacked material varies in length from 12 to 22 feet, thus resulting in a variation in the size of a loaded car of from 4,300 to 5,500 feet. The average is given as 4,800 feet. Besides the seven stackers supplied with lumber from the live rollers, there is another, a "hand stacker", which is supplied with lumber from the ordinary mill trucks. This is used in getting out special orders or returning to the kiln material which was not thoroughly dried the first time. The eight stackers are placed side by side and the whole covered by a shed. Each stacker is 23 feet wide, thus giving a total length of 184 feet for the eight stackers. The shed serves mainly for the comfort of the workmen, and is quite necessary as during the wet season rain falls nearly every day. From time to time, as orders require, laths are stacked for the kiln. These, however, are stacked flat and by hand on steel bars placed on the regular trucks. Care is taken that there is a vertical space of from 4 to 6 inches between the bundles. Inch boards for stickers are placed between the tiers. On each car are piled 24 bundles to the tier and 18 high, a total of 432 bundles or 2,160 laths. As the cars are filled they are transferred to storage tracks in front of the kiln, the different classes being kept separate. To illustrate, spruce for boxes which requires two days for drying is kept separate from clear spruce which requires five days for drying. The different classes are sometimes mixed in the kiln provided the cars ahead will be ready for discharge at the same time or before. It is not good policy to open the doors more than is absolutely necessary for that means in-rushing of cold air and, of course, lowering of the temperature. The cars are pushed into the kilns by the aid of gravity, the one end of the kiln being lower than the other. The ends of the storage tracks are also the lowest near the kilns. Pieces of lath are placed on the track for blocks when it is desirable to have the cars come to rest. Sometimes these blocks become de- tached, releasing the car, or a car gets loose from the tenders, 122 Forest Club Annual with the result that the runaway crashes into the cars ahead. This usually means either a car through the kiln door or a truck off track. In either case half a dozen men are required to right the accident Each chamber holds 16 cars, but it is customary to remove only half of the cars at a time. The reason for this is that there is a limited space for storage below the kiln. After being dried, the lumber is unloaded below the kiln mainly by means of a mechanical unloader operated by a small engine. This works just opposite from the stacker, raising tier after tier up onto a table where it is marked for the different purposes by the marker. As the material moves along the table on the three endless chains, it is taken off by the chain gang and placed on separate trucks. The temperature of the kilns, which should be quite con- stant, varies greatly. The automatic recording thermometer showed at times a daily variation of 80° F. As a rule the average temperature is about 200° F. This great change in temperature is due largely to the poor system of firing the boilers from which the steam is secured. Practically all the merchantable western species are kiln- dried in greater or lesser amounts. Since much material is needed for boxes, Sitka spruce (Picea sitchensis) heads the list, with the other species in regular order — Douglas fir (Pseudotsuya ta.ri- folia Britt.), western hemlock (Tsuga heterophylla), western red cedar (Thuya plicata) and cottonwood (Populus frcuiontii). There is much doubt as to the correctness of the species name "fremontii" for the cottonwood. This tree is not used to a very great extent ; only an occasional log reaches the mill and simply those boards that are clear and free from knots enter the kiln. Material of various sizes is run through the kiln. Of clear spruce there is 3x4 and 4x4 inch stock and inch boards from 4 to 24 inches wide ; boxwood, spruce and hemlock are usually I1/-* inches thick and from 6 to 12 inches wide. Boxwood in- cludes all the common stocks of spruce and hemlock which will not pass for clear. Clear hemlock inch boards average from 4 to (S inches in width. Only clear fir and a limited amount of clear cedar inch boards from 4 to 8 inches wide are kiln-dried, unless a special order of thicker stock is required. The thicker stock is not stacked by means of the mechanical stacker but by hand. Upon inspecting the material that has passed through the kiln a number of defects are usually observed. The principal one, especially in Douglas fir, is that of warping. As the lumber dries it shrinks and the tiers become loosened, consequently Entrance to Stacker Sheds. Troughs on the left and handstacker in the foreground. Grays Harbor Commercial Co. Saw Mill, Cosmopolis, Wash. The beginning of a load — first tier — on left. Loaded car on right. Grays Harbor Commercial Co. Saw Mill, Cosmopolis, Washington. ]Vith a Dr\ Kiln in the Northwest 123 slight warping in the two outside tiers is frequently the result. If some method could be devised whereby the slack could be taken up in the rings which hold the I-beams together, this difficulty could be largely overcome. Occasionally there is checking and cracking, perhaps a board or two to the car. An occasional red cedar board will be case-hardened. The principal loss en- tailed both before and after drying is that of rough handling. Of every 100,000 feet kiln-dried perhaps from 3,000 to 5,000 feet of boards are broken up. From this broken lot, however, many of the best boards are sorted out and sent to the box factory, so the loss in reality is not as great as it first appears. The mechanical unloader at the "discharge" end of the kiln breaks about a tenth of the stickers from each car unloaded. Repeated passage through the kiln causes the stickers to become brittle and only a slight pressure at one end is necessary to break them. Brittleness is the very point made by those who are op- posed to kiln-drying. It does become a factor if the lumber is left in the kiln too long at a high temperature, but the operator must guard against that. There is a reason for every thing, even bread left in the oven too long will be burnt. A great many of the defects, like brittleness, are chargeable to the operator. Case-hardening in cedar and checking and cracking in that and in other species are due largely to the fact that the air in the kiln was not sufficiently moist, when drying began, to promote the action of capillarity. When the action of capillarity is checked, the moisture in the board cannot be removed except by such means as checks and cracks. Excessive warping is frequently caused by the lumber remaining in the kiln longer than the scheduled time. It is apparently more dangerous to over dry than to under dry, for in the former case much of the lumber might be damaged but in the latter case there is only an incon- venience since it can be restacked and run through again. The following table gives the time that the different species remain in the kiln and the purposes for which they are to be used : Species i Purpose Time in kiln Spruce Boxes 2 days Spruce Clear for finishing 5 " Douglas Fir (( K (I 4 " Hemlock Boxes 4 " Hemlock Clear for finishing 5 " Cedar « (f it 5 " Spruce Laths 6 " Fir Laths 5 " 124 Forest Club Annual This table holds true provided the temperature is maintained at the average point, approximately 200° F. If the lumber is re- turned to the kiln because of insufficient drying, it is returned for a period long enough, in the judgment of the operator, to com- plete the drying process. From a nearby shingle mill it was learned that shingles are kiln-dried for a period of eight days at a temperature of approximately 180° F. Below is given the number of men, names of the position, and the work each man performs in stacking 100,000 feet of lumber a day and placing it in the kiln. The name of the position each holds is purely local and has no special significance other than that of identification. A full crew consists of seventeen men, but frequently in case of shortage the handstackers and flunkey are missing. While the kiln is in operation all the time, including Sunday, the stacker crew, with the exception of the car-heavers and two or three extra men, works only six days a week with over- time of 2% hours two or three times a week. The car-heavers and the two or three additional men must appear Sunday fore- noon to fill whatever chambers are ready and to make small needed repairs. No. Men Name of position Duties 1 Feeder Place the lumber in the troughs 2 Assistant Feeder Put lumber in readiness for the feeder 1 Puncher-down Keep the lumber free in the troughs 6 Stacker Stack lumber 2 Hand Stack Stack lumber 3 Car-heaver Set up trucks and "charge" the kiln 1 Flunkey Clean up around the stackers 1 Boss Oversee the work As soon as the lumber is in the kiln the crew at the lower end takes charge. The boss of this crew looks after the heating of the kiln, keeps a record of all the cars placed in the kiln by the crew above, and discharges, or pulls as it is familiarity termed, the ones that are ready. Like the arrangement above there is just one crew of men, who, with the exception of the two car-heavers and the boss, work only week days with perhaps two or three times a week over-time of 2Vi> hours. The car-heavers and the boss pull whatever cars are ready on Sunday morning. A full crew consists of seventeen, PLATE HO. II. Dry kiln with loaded cars on storage track in front. Commercial Co. Saw Mill, Cosmopolis, Wash. Grays Harbor Side of dry kiln showing the cedar piling underneath. Commercial Co. Saw Mill, Cosmopolis, Wash. Grays Harbor With a Dry Kiln in the Northwest 125 but frequently the flunkey the hand-unloaders and two of the chain gang are missing. The following is the crew : No. of Men Name of position Duties 2 Car-heaver Push cars out of kiln and prepare them for unloading 1 Engineer Operate the unloader 1 Assistant Engineer Assist the engineer 1 Marker Mark and grade lumber 8 Chainman Take lumber off chain and place it on separate trucks 2 Hand-unloader Unload cars by hand 1 Flunkey Clean up broken boards and trash 1 Boss Oversee the work In arriving at the cost of kiln-drying lumber, all the expense of help, repairs and oil is included. A part of the time of the regular mill-oiler is also charged. It is interesting to note that approximately 30 gallons of heavy, black, lubricating oil is used each month to oil the bearings and trucks in the stacking depart- ment. Oil cuts off the dirt and saw-dust from the rails and makes the cars push easier. The average cost during the months of March, April and May, 1913, for stacking the lumber and placing it in the kiln was 33 cents a thousand feet B. M. For the lower crew which took the lumber from the kilns, sorted, and placed it on trucks, the average cost was approximately the same. The care and the furnishing of heat to the kiln was also charged to the lower crew. This gave the total cost of taking the lumber from the chains and finally placing it on mill trucks at 66 cents per thousand feet B. M. The cost may not appear high, still it could undoubtedly be cut down if more efficient labor could be secured. Transient help was employed almost exclusively. As soon as the laborer became acquainted with the work he would leave and a green hand would, of course, take his place. This caused no end of trouble to the immediate overseers as well as to the Superintendent, all of whom wished to make a good showing. FOREST PLANTING IN SWEDEN.* E. \V. Nelson '13. A short review has been made of an article on forest plant- ing in Sweden : The Swedish foresters to a certain extent have experienced some trouble with their forest plantings. They have varied con- ditions in their country which demand treatment of various kinds. It has been ascertained that forest planting succeeds better than forest sowing, this being especially true on some sites. Even where there is the best of soil and moisture conditions, planting has been more successful than seed sowing. Sites that have grown to tall grass are, as a general rule, planted instead of seeded, the grass forming a protective covering for the small trees during the winter. Sites that are grown up to ferns, raspberries and other low-ground species are also planted. And on low ground that sometimes stands under water, planting is preferred to sowing; which is also true of. drained sites. Long experience has taught the Swedish foresters what trees are best suited for forest planting and what are best for sowing. Species with long tap roots such as the pine, oak and beech are suitable for sowing while species with shallow, fibrous root systems such as spruce and birch are suitable for planting. The Swedish foresters find it hard to obtain good tree seed, especially that of pine. Good seed years are few and far be- tween. They have found that the seed imported from the south- ern countries, such as Germany, produce inferior trees. The small forest owner in Sweden does not, as a general rule, go to the trouble of raising his own stock. He can either secure it from the state forest service or from one of the large private forest nurseries. : : Sko-splantering — Gunnar Schotte; Skogsvards forening-ens Folkskrifter, 190S-1910, Forest Planting in Sweden 127 Below is given the prices of some of the species that are used for planting purposes in Sweden : Species Class Cost per M. Swedish money [American money Pine 1 vr. 2 crowns $0.56 Pine 2 " 5 " 1.40 Spruce 2 " 2.5 " 0.70 Spruce 3 " 6 " 1.68 Larch 2 " 8 " 2.24 Oak 1 " 8 " 2.24 Beech 2 " 10 " 2.80 Alder \ 1 " ; 6 1.68 AGE AND CONDITION OF STOCK. Particular attention has been paid to the age and condition of the planting stock in Sweden. They make a special point of securing plants with excellent tops and root systems for planting. Below in tabular form are some of the plant classes : Species Classes Pine 1-0, 1-1 Larch 1-1, 1-2 Spruce Alder Birch Oak 2-0, 2-2 2-0, 1-1 2-0, 1-2 1-0. (2-0) The general rule in spacing the plantings in southern Sweden is 1.5 meters, and in Norrland 2 to 2.5 meters. In southern Sweden pine is invariably spaced from 1.0 to 1.25 meters. The silver spruce is usually spaced 1.5 meters. Light-demanding species in general, however, are spaced much farther apart. Below is given the various spacings Used in planting in Sweden : Spacing No. of trees per hectare 1.0 x 1.0 meters 1.25 x 1 25 10,000 6400 1.50 x 1.50 " 1.75 x 1.75 " 2.0 x 2.0 4,444 3,265 2,500 128 Forest Club Annual PLANTING METHODS. The Swedish foresters have tried out various planting methods on the many different sites that are found in the various parts of their country. On Ordinary Rocky Sites On ordinary rocky forest sites they use the following method, which, in fact, corresponds to our "middle of the hole" method: The hole is dug with a mattock, and the size of the hole usually depends upon the size of the plant. In planting, the loose, fine soil is placed around the roots and tamped. Then coarser soil is thrown in to fill up the hole. Rocks are usually placed around the plant in order to protect it from trampling by stock. On rocky soil one man can dig between 500 and 1,000 holes in a day, and in sandy soil 1,500 holes can be dug in a day. To a large extent women do the planting, and they can usually plant between 500 and 1,000 trees a day. Labor is very cheap as the men receive only two crowns a day, which is equivalent to $0.56 in our money, and the women receive only 1 crown a day. Their plantings by this method, using a spacing of 1.5 meters, cost from 15 to 28 crowns per hectare. The cost by this method is reasonable, being from $1.70 to $3.20 per acre when a spacing 4.5 x 4.5 feet is used. In very stony ground where large holes cannot be dug the "crow-bar" method is used. Very narrow holes are made so that as many as 1,500 plants are planted in a day. The cost per hectare varies from 15 to 18 crowns, which is from $1.70 to $2.85 per acre. This method is not as expensive as the "middle of the hole" method, but only small plants such as 1-0 pine and 2-0 spruce can be used. On Sandy Sites Planting on sandy sites is a very simple matter. A simple hand implement of v-shaped nature is used in making the holes. The plant is inserted in the hole and the soil pressed against it with the hand implement. It is found possible to use school children in southern Sweden when planting up sandy sites. On Grassy Sites On grassy sites with more or less of a clayey soil the follow- ing method is used : The small plants are planted in groups vary- ing from 1 to 3. The grass sod is cleared off and the hole dug about 30 inches deep. The sod is placed in the bottom of the hole Forest Planting in Sweden 129 and then the dirt thrown in. The plants are set out with a dibble. This method is comparatively sure according to results secured in Ostergotlands with 1-1 pine planted in this way. Other species such as 2-0 silver spruce, 1-0 beech, and 2-0 birch are planted by this method. The method is very expensive as one man can only dig 200 holes a day. Spacing the holes 1.5 meters apart, the cost would be from 35 to 60 crowns per hectare. On Lowland and Overflow Sites The method that is used in planting up the lowland and over- flow sites is the "mound method". This method consists in building up a mound of earth and planting the plant in the mound. The method is a very expensive one, but good results have been obtained in using it. PROTECTION AND CARE OF THE YOUNG PLANTATIONS. It appears that the Swedish foresters experience some loss in their plantings and therefore are compelled to replant in order to secure a fully stocked stand. Ordinarily the plants must receive some attention during the first 5 or 6 year period. Secondary species such as beech and aspen cause consider- able trouble as they grow much faster than the pine and the spruce. At times it has been necessary to clear out the beech and aspen in order that the planted species be enabled to get a good start. In localities where there are many rabbits and deer the foresters, in order to protect their young plantations, have fenced in the areas with a woven wire fence. For further protectipn against rabbits the woven wire is placed in the ground to a depth of at least 0.7 meters. In conclusion, the Swedish foresters find that they can secure an income from their plantings. For example, a 40 year old stand of alder which cost 282 crowns per hectare has produced timber to the amount of 422 crowns per hectare. Plantings in vSweden, then, are of importance as a source of immediate income ; and furthermore they should be encouraged simply because of economic reasons, mainly to provide for the coming generations. CHARLES EDWIN BESSEY. 1845-1915. It is with bowed heads and saddened hearts that we announce the death of Professor Doctor Charles Edwin Bessey. When his long and immensely useful life came to its close, and when his spirit was borne out among the twinkling stars of that chilly February eve it was not alone the immediate family who felt the shock of the great change ; it was not alone the botanical world that had lost a powerful exponent, but the forester and the forestry student had lost an important source of inspiration and encouraging guidance. A friend tried true had left us. Dr. Bessey was always to be found "boosting" for the for- estry movement in all of its numerous phases and ramifications. His sympathy and enthusiasm was broad enough and specific enough to reach from the President and Chief Forester of the United States, comfortably seated in the enameled halls at Wash- ington, out to the humblest and loneliest ranger riding his beat over the most desolate places of desolation. Throughout his eventful life he appropriated much of his boundless energy for the forestry movement which began to take definite form during his earlier scientific days. He enjoyed the most pleasant and profitable acquaintance and cooperation with such men as Mor- ton, Rothrock, Roth, Fernow, Cleveland, Pinchot and Roosevelt. Truly these are names to conjure with in American forestry! Out of such associations, embellished in copious measure with his own gentleness, came much of his wisdom in the direction of the thought and deeds of future foresters. With such company as this he readily kept in touch with the progress of forestry in Charles Edwin Bessey 131 America and he was often called upon to throw the weight of his influential arguments into congressional halls. Long chapters would be necessary to chronicle all of the many interesting and significant incidents of his life and to record the accomplishments of this great man with reference to our national forestry policy and practice. But of course to you men, as to all loyal U. of N. fellows who sat at his feet, he was known best and was enjoyed most because of the more intimate and specific labors which he performed within the narrow limits of our own state and institution. How he preached and practiced forestry at Nebraska long before 1903 (when the forestry de- partment was established), how he was the guiding spirit in the foundation of the department, and how he was the living spark which guided our destiny, all these, I say, are facts of history, not to be passed lightly and never to be forgotten, but this is hardly the place and time to critically examine and record these features in detail. To tell of his worth to us would be to grasp some magic wand and write upon the pages of spirit history the complete record of all of the ennobling impulses and aspirations which he planted in our breasts. Many such impulses have become so deep-seated and powerful as to defy expression or definition through the medium of mere written or spoken words. We should pause occasionally for a few moments in our mad rush, shut out the cold and irresponsive world and allow the pure white spirit of our departed master and guide to rule our passions. If we do this we will be better men, better foresters and better botanists. We who have known him intimately can never forget him, but let us ever remember that his principles and his practices were possessed of qualities far too rare in the every day world of men. At this time we can only bow our heads and acknowl- edge by our own silence the magnitude of his goodly influence upon each and all of us. We were his boys! RAYMOND J. POOL. OTTO F. SWENSON. Otto F. Swenson received the degrees of Bachelor of Science in Forestry in June 1911 and Master of Forestry in June 1912 from the Forest School of the University of Nebraska. On July 1, 1911 he was appointed Forest Assistant in the U. S. Forest Service. As a Student Assistant, Forest Assistant and Forest Ex- aminer in District 3 of the U. S. Forest Service his work was principally along the lines of timber reconnaissance and land examination. In June 1914 he accepted a position as timber estimator in the Indian Service and while serving in this capacity he met his death, last September, near Delta, California. To those who knew him best he was a true companion, an unselfish and devoted friend — ever ready with his kindly as- sistance to others. Under the guise of his quiet humor lurked a seriousness of thought and intensity of purpose that won ad- miration and respect. In his work he combined practical information gained by actual field experience with technical knowledge, which coupled with his ability to handle men, enabled him to thoroughly ac- complish his tasks in an unassuming manner. By his death the profession of forestry lost a young man of promise, one of the type to whom we must look for the best of the foresters of the rising generation. JOHN S. BOYCE. ALUMNI DIRECTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA FORESTRY SCHOOL Barnard, W. D., Ex. '13 Boulder Junction, Wis. Wisconsin State Forestry. Bates, C. G., B.Sc. '07 Denver, Colo. In charge of Forest Investigations, Office of Silviculture, District 2, U. S. Forest Service. Bell, C. E., B.Sc. '04 Sacramento, Calif. Agency organizer for the New York Life Insurance Co., Peoples' Bank Bldg. Benedict, M. A., B.Sc. '06 Willows, Calif. Forest Supervisor, U. S. Forest Service, California National Forest. Benedict, M. S., Ex. '10 Hailey, Idaho Forest Supervisor, U. S. Forest Service, Sawtooth National Forest. Benedict, R. E., A.B. '03 Victoria, B. C. Assistant Forester, British Columbia Forest Branch, in charge of operations. Bennett, W. W., B.Sc. '12 Missoula, Mont. Deputy Forest Supervisor, U. S. Forest Service, Lolo Na- tional Forest. Bishop, L. L., B.Sc. '10 Marion, N. C. Forest Examiner, U. S. Forest Service, in charge of Mount Mitchell Area, Southern Appalachian Forest. Bodley, R. E., B.Sc. '12; M.F. '13. Bozeman, Mont. Acting Forest Supervisor, U. S. Forest Service, Gallatin National Forest. Boyce, J. S., B.Sc. '11 ; M.F. '12 San Francisco, Calif. Scientific Assistant in Forest Pathology, U. S. Bureau of Plant Industry, in cooperation with U. S. Forest Service, District 5. Bruff, J. R., Ex. '13 Mt. Hamill, Iowa Instructor, White Institute. Chapline, W. R., Jr., B.Sc. '13 Washington, D. C. Grazing Assistant, U. S. Forest Service, Office of Grazing Studies. 134 Forest Club Annual Cooper, T. R., A.M. '08; B.Sc. (Bellevue College) '04 Biggs, Cal. Rice Farming. d'Allemand, B. R. H., B.Sc. '05 Garden City, Kans. Forest Supervisor, U. S. Forest Service, Kansas National Forest, Garden City Nursery. Dick, R. P., Ex. '15 Soldier, Idaho Ranching. Douglas, L. H.,. B.Sc. '11 Denver, Colo. Grazing Examiner, U. S. Forest Service, in charge of Graz- ing Studies, District 2. Douthitt, F. D., Ex. '14 Ogden, Utah Grazing Assistant, U. S. Forest Service, District 4. Dunn, C. M., B.Sc. '08 Indianapolis, Ind. Of Hobbs & Dunn, Landscape Architects and Engineers, 909-910 State Life Bldg. Evans, R. V., B.Sc. '13; M.F. '13 Missoula, Mont. Instructor, University of Montana. Fullaway, S. V., Jr., B.Sc. '12; M.F. '13 Thompson Falls, Mont. Forest Assistant, U. S. Forest Service, Cabinet National Forest. Garver, R. D., B.Sc. '12 Salt Lake City, Utah Forest Examiner, U. S. Forest Service, Wasatch National Forest. Gooding, L. M., B.Sc. '14 Bisbee, Ariz. Teacher of Science in High School. Goodman, W. F., Ex. '15 Ishawooa, Wyo. Assistant Forest Ranger, U. S. Forest Service, Shoshone Na- tional Forest. Greenamyre, H. H., B.Sc. '10 Quincy, Calif. Ranching. Gurney, N. E., Ex. '16 Baker, Ore. With Baker City Lumber Co. Guthrie, R. T., B.Sc. '12; M.F. '13 Denver, Colo. Forest Assistant, U. S, Forest Service, Pike National Forest. Hallett, Scott, Ex. '09 Lincoln, Nebr. With Beatrice Creamery Co. Hamel, A. G., B.Sc. '09 Westcliffe, Colo. Forest Examiner, U. S. Forest Service, San Isabel National Forest. Hartley, C. P., A.B. '07; A.M. '08 Denver, Colo. Consulting Pathologist for U. S. Forest Service, District 2. Hayes, F. A., B.Sc. '13 Lincoln, Nebr. Graduate Student, U. of N. '14-'15 Alumni Directory Higgins, Jay, B.Sc. '08 Monte Vista, Colo. Forest Examiner, U. S. Forest Service, Rio Grande Na- tional Forest. Hill, R. R., A.B. '06 Albuquerque, N. Hex. Grazing Examiner, U. S. Forest Service, in charge of Graz- ing Studies, District 3. Hummel, E. W., Ex. '15 Rapid City, So. Dak. Assistant Forest Ranger, U. S. Forest Service, Black Hills National Forest. Humphrey, C. J., A.B., B.Sc. '06 Madison, Wise. Forest Pathologist, U. S. Bureau of Plant Industry. In charge Madison Office of Pathology in cooperation with U. S. Forest Service. Hurtt, L. C, B.Sc. '14 Ogden, Utah Grazing Assistant, U. S. Forest Service, District 4. Ketridge, J. C., B.Sc. '09 Libby, Mont. Forest Examiner, U. S. Forest Service, Kootenae National Forest. Korstian, C. F., B.Sc. '11; M.F. '13 Flagstaff, Ariz. Forest Examiner, U. S. Forest Service, Fort Valley Experi- ment Station. Kreuger, Theodore, Ex. '13 Halsey, Nebr. Forest Assistant, U. S. Forest Service, in charge Halsey Nursery, Nebraska National Forest. Lamb, G. N., B.Sc. '09; A.M. '11 Washington, D. C. On Forest Investigation Studies, U. S. Forest Service, Office of Silviculture. Lamb, W. H., Ex. 'IT Washington, D. C. In charge office of Forest Distribution, U. S. Forest Service, Forest Investigations. Lazo, M., B.Sc. '10 Bataan, P. I. Assistant Forester, Philippine Bureau of Forestry, Bataan Forest Maron. MacDonald, G. B., B.Sc. '07 Ames, Iowa Professor of Forestry, Iowa State College. Martin, W. R., B.Sc. '11 ' Fremont, Nebr. Of Yager & Martin, Nurserymen McMillan, W. S., Ex. '14 Gardnerville, Nev. Assistant Forest Ranger, U. S. Forest Service, Mono Na- tional Forest. Miller, A. H., B.Sc. '08 Kennard, Nebr. Ranching. 136 Forest Club Annual Miller, T. E., B.Sc. '12 Kalispell, Mont. Deputy Forest Supervisor, U. S: Forest Service, Blackfeet National Forest. Morrell, F. W., B.Sc. '06 Denver, Colo. Assistant District Forester, U. S. Forest Service, in charge of operation, District 2. Nelson, E. W., B.Sc. '13 Lincoln, Nebr. Graduate Student, U. of N. '14-'15. Nichols, T. B., B.Sc. '13 Lincoln, Nebr. Graduate Student, U. of N. '14-'15. Olson, D. S., Ex. '15 Missoula, Mont. Assistant Forest Ranger, U. S. Forest Service, in charge Savanac Nursery, District 1. Pagaduan, G., B.Sc. '09 Candon, Illocos Sur, P. I. Teacher of Botany. Paulson, M., B.Sc. '11 Minden, Nebr. Pearson, G. A., B.Sc. '06; A.M. '07 Flagstaff, Ariz. In charge Fort Valley Experiment Station, U. S. Forest Service. Phillips, R. A., B.Sc. '12 Custer, So. Dak. Forest Assistant, U. S. Forest Service, Harney National Forest. Pierce, ~R. G., B.Sc. '07; M.S.F. (Mich.) '08 Washington, D. C. Forest Pathologist, U. S. Bureau of Plant Industry. Pipal, F. J., B.Sc. '08; A.M. '11 Lafayette, Ind. Assistant Botanist, Purdue University Agriculture Experi- ment Station. Polleys, E., B.Sc. '10 Missoula, Mont. With Polleys' Lumber Co. Pool, R. J., A.B. '07; A.M. '08; Ph.D. '13 Lincoln, Nebr. Professor of Botany, Curator of the Herbarium, University of Nebraska. Rands, R. D., B.Sc. '13 Madison, Wise. Graduate Student in Plant Pathology, University of Wiscon- sin '14-'15. Rockie, W. A., B.Sc. '14 Washington, D. C. Assistant in Soil Survey, U. S. Bureau of Soils. Sampson, A. W., B.Sc., A.M. '07 Washington, D. C. Director of Utah Experiment Station, U. S. Forest Service. Siecke, E. O., A.B. '04; B.Sc. '05 Salem, Ore. Assistant State Forester, Oregon. Steele, Raymond G., Ex. '08 Austin, Nev. Deputy Forest Supervisor, U. S. Forest Service, Toiyabe and Moapa National Forests. Alumni Directory 137 Stevenson, H. C, B.Sc. '09 Seattle, Wash. With Stevenson-Dierks Lumber Co. Stults, H. L., Ex. '14 Laramie, Wyo. Assistant Forest Ranger, U. S. Forest Service, Medicine Bow National Forest. Swan, O. T., A.B. '03; B.Sc. '04 Washington, D. C. Engineer in Forest Products, U. S. Forest Service, in charge of Industrial Investigations. Swenson, O. F., B.Sc. '11; M.F. '12 Deceased Tillotson, C. R., B.Sc. '09 Washington, D. C. On Forest Investigation Studies, U. S. Forest Service, Of- fice of Silviculture. Upson, A. T., B.Sc. '10 Hot Sulphur Springs, Colo. Forest Examiner, U. S. Forest Service, Arapaho National Forest. White, D. G., B.Sc. '11; M.F. '12 Washington, D. C. In Industrial Investigation Studies, U. S. Forest Service, Office of Products. Winchester, D. E., B.Sc. '07 Washington, D. C. Assistant Geologist, U. S. Geological Survey. Wohlenberg, E. T. F., B.Sc. '12; M.F. '13 Albuquerque, N. Mex. Forest Examiner, U. S. Forest Service, District 3. The Forest Club will be grateful for corrections in this directory. THE TIMBER RESOURCES OF NEBRASKA. BY WILLIAM L. HALL, Superintendent of Tree Planting, Bureau of Forestry. [REPRINT FROM YEARBOOK OF DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE FOR 1901.] CONTENTS. Page. Introduction 207 The natural timber prior to settlement of State 207 Improvement in the natural timber since settlement of State 208 Gain in area 208 Gain in density 209 Gain in quality 209 Value of the natural timber of Nebraska 210 The planted timber of Nebraska. 210 Value of the planted timber of Nebraska 211 General utility 211 Commercial value of planted timber in Nebraska 212 Esthetic value of planted timber in Nebraska 214 Government interest in planting in Nebraska 215 Need of forest tree planting reserves 216 ILLUSTRATIONS. Page. PLATE IX. Type of original forest .^ 207 X. Fig. 1. — Natural forest on land under cultivation twenty-five years ago (Pawnee County, Nebr.). Fig. 2. — A vigorous young forest ( Brownville, Nebr. ) 208 XI. Fig. 1. — Natural forest growth of the last forty-five years (Ne- braska City, Nebr.). Fig. 2. — Young natural forest (.Nebraska City, Nebr. ) 210 XII. Plantation of Cottonwood 212 XIII. Fig. 1.— The sand hills. Fig. 2.— Pine plantation in sand hills, looking north (Holt County, Nebr.). Fig. 3. — Pine plantation in sand hills, looking west (Holt County, Nebr. ) 216 XIV. Fig. 1. — Young Yellow Pine encroaching upon a sand hill (Sheri- dan County, Nebr.) . Fig. 2. — Young pines encroaching upon a sand hill (Dawes County, Nebr. ) 216 Yearbook U. S. Dept. of Agriculture, 1901. PLATE IX. TYPE OF ORIGINAL FOREST. THE TIMBER RESOURCES OF NEBRASKA. By WILLIAM L. HALL, Superintendent of Tree Planting, Bureau of Forestry. INTRODUCTION. In no other State is the ratio of planted to natural timber so close as regards area and usefulness as in Nebraska. The comparatively small area of natural timber and the large area of planted timber bring the two into the unusually close ratio of 1 acre of planted to 8 acres of natural forest. Nearly all the latter is composed of young growth, and its chief interest lies in its rapid extension in area and improve- ment in quality. What the planted timber lacks in area it makes up by more even distribution throughout the State and more convenient location for a large number of uses. THE NATURAL TIMBER PRIOR TO SETTLEMENT OF STATE. The original wooded area of Nebraska is estimated at 2,300 square miles, or only 3 per cent of the State's area. One-half of this timber covered the bluffs of the Missouri River or skirted the streams flow- ing into it, and one -sixth bordered the tributaries of the Blue River; the remaining portion was found in the canyons and on the bluffs in the western part of the State. The combination of adverse natural conditions, together with fire, held the forest within these limits. The number of species composing this original growth was limited. Some 56 species were found in the extreme eastern edge of the State, along the Missouri River, but going westward one after another of these disappeared until, in the central part of the State, there were but 13 or 14 species. In the western part the number increased again to 22 or 23. In quality the original timber of Nebraska was not first class. (See PI. IX.) The extreme eastern part of the State contributed to the sawmill some hardwoods, such as oak, walnut, and elm; the valleys of the central part a little Cotton wood, and Pine Ridge, near the north- west corner of the State, a considerable portion of Yellow Pine. Excepting the pine, only the timber produced in moist and otherwise favorable places was of good form for lumber. Elsewhere the trees grew too far apart to have good form. 907 208 YEARBOOK OF THE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. IMPROVEMENT IN THE NATURAL TIMBER SINCE SETTLEMENT OF STATE. With the settlement of the State came a change in conditions which resulted in a modification of forest growth and distribution. Fires became less frequent, the trampling of buffalo ceased, and domestic animals were confined to fenced inclosuies. Freed from these destruc- tive agencies the forest sprang into more vigorous growth, and soon began to encroach upon the adjacent prairie. This change in forest growth has been closely studied by Dr. Charles E. Bessey, who describes it as follows: I have been studying the tree areas of eastern Nebraska, and find evidence that they are advancing with a good deal of rapidity. My personal observations have been in so many localities that it is impossible to specify them in detail. * * * They involve most of the counties in eastern Nebraska. In practically every case where one travels up the streams, passing out to the side branches, to the little tem- porary rills which water the upper basins, the trees are of smaller size and are much younger. It is a very rare occurrence to find large trees near the upper end of a forest belt. I have seen a few such cases, but their rarity is such that one is always surprised when they are found. The general rule is that near the upper limit of the tree area there are many shrubs, and mingled with them many young trees no larger than those which, under cultivation, are known to be not more than 15 to 20 years old. I may cite the following localities from my notes: (1) On the head waters of Oak Creek in Butler County; (2) head waters of the Blue River in Seward and Hamilton counties; (3) head waters of Weeping Water Creek in Cass County; (4) along small streams in the Loup Valley; (5) along the small streams north of the Platte in Sarpy County; (6) head waters of Little Nemaha Creek in Nemaha County. No one who has seen and studied the forest areas in eastern Nebraska will be able to doubt that they are spreading where they are given a fair opportunity and are not prevented by man or his domestic animals.1 The improvement in the natural forest is evident in three ways: (1) By extension over new territory; (2) by increase in density in the territory already covered; (3) by improved form of the trees. <;.ux IN AREA. The extent to which the forest has taken possession of new ground during the half century since settlement began can be estimated only imperfectly. Along almost every stream and ravine the forest has won some ground from the prairie. Here it has been only a few square rods, there several acres. Not infrequently tracts of 80 or loo acres have changed from prairie to forest. Near the farm of Mr. C. H. Barnard, of Table Rock, a lield which twenty-live }Tears ago was with- out timber and under cultivation is now covered by a dense forest of young timber. In another place, not a mile distant, the forest has extended up a ravine 2 miles beyond its limit of twenty- five years ago. Kastcrn Nebraska is penetrated by many small streams and ravines. so that the little gained on each one amounts to a great deal in the 'Paper read before Section (i, Botany, of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Yearbook U. S. Dept. of Agriculture, 1901. PLATE X. FIG. 1.— NATURAL FOREST ON LAND UNDER CULTIVATION TWENTY-FIVE YEARS AGO. PAWNEE COUNTY, NEBR. FIG. 2. -A VIGOROUS YOUNG FOREST. BROWNVILLE, NEBR. THE TIMBER RESOURCES OF NEBRASKA. 209 aggregate. It is probably not too much to say that in eastern Nebraska the forest has occupied new ground to the extent of 400 square miles. This is not a net gain in forest area, for it has~})een partly offset by clearing and pasturage. But with all losses consid- ered the gain has been large. Nor is the growth now confined to streams and ravines as it was once. It appears in every protected place. The following species in that region, the forerunners of larger growth, are coming up in dense thickets along fence rows and road- sides: Hkii-s glabra, Ribes gracile, Rubus occidentalis, SympJioricarpus vulgaris, Pmmis virginiana, Cornus asperifolia, Rliamnus lanceolata. The tendency is for timber to occupy with more or less rapidity all land in the extreme eastern part of Nebraska not devoted to farming and grazing, and the transition is taking place more rapidly now than ever before, because of improved soil and moisture conditions and augmented seed production, due to the increase of bearing trees. GAIN IX DENSITY. There has been a gain also in the density of the forest. Originally it consisted of a sparse stand of mature trees with no }7oung growth. (See PL X.) The change has been wonderful. With the absence of fires, seedlings grew up densely among the mature trees. Oftener than not the latter were cut out, giving the 3Toung timber undisputed possession.1 An instance of this is to be seen on the farm of Mr. J. O. Lansing, 2 miles west of South Bend. When this farm was purchased, sixteen years ago, all the mature timber had been cut for fuel and posts. The land was fenced and fires excluded, and now there is a dense growth of }Toung timber, all under 20 years old. Nearly all the timber of eastern Nebraska consists of just such vigorous, thick growth under 40 years of age. While it has not reached size for lumber, it is valuable for fuel, posts, and poles. It is probable that the gain in density is even greater than the gain in area. GAIN IN QUALITY. The removal of old timber was after all the best course. The mature trees out of the way, the young timber had opportunity to occupy the ground in a dense, even stand. In consequence, its growth is straight and slender; much of it has cleared itself of side branches, and before many years will be of size for saw timber. The increase and improvement in the natural timber are direct results of settlement and cultivation, and have taken place in the exact ratio with the protection given. Wind, water, birds, and animals 1 So rapidly were the mature trees cut that in many places the last vestige was removed in a few years. It seemed that the small supply of timber was to be exter- minated, for at that time there was no indication of the wonderful reproductive ten- dency apparent in recent years. 210 YEAKBOOK OF THE DEPAETMENT OF AGEICULTURE. disseminated the seeds from which the trees came, but man protected and encouraged the growth. The natural timber of the present time is, therefore, due almost entirely to his care. VALUE OF THE NATURAL TIMBER OF NEBRASKA. The value of the young timber can scarcely be overestimated. Besides its beneficial climatic influence, it has great value on account of the fuel and lumber it will furnish. Its economic value is empha- sized by the fact that for the most part it occupies land which, on account of proximity to streams and ravines, is not available for other agricultural crops. The farm of Hon. J. Sterling Morton, 1 mile west of Nebraska City, affords a notable example of the value of the natural timber under a good system of management. This farm in 1855 included 56 acres of brush land which was of little value for agricultural crops on account of the circuitous course of a small stream which penetrated it. A course of thinning and improvement cutting, at once under- taken and since adhered to, has for forty-five years resulted in an annual product of $200 worth of firewood and posts, or a total sum of $9,000. The cutting and pruning constantly improved the char- acter of the timber. The trees are now better in form, stand, and reproduction than at any previous time, and represent a value of several thousand dollars. (See PI. XL) In many instances the encouragement of the natural timber has paid better than planting. THE PLANTED TIMBER OF NEBRASKA. Many estimates have been made of the area of the planted timber in Nebraska. Some of these are accurate to a certain degree, but they do not convey a vivid impression of the actual well-planted condition of the State. The fact becomes far more impressive when one passes through the State and observes the almost countless groves on every side. Nearly every farm has its plantations. Even these do not represent the planting actually done, for unfortunately a great deal of it was done wrong, and there is now little or nothing to show for it. Then, in some localities there have been heavy losses on account of adverse conditions of soil and moisture. Yet, in spite of losses, Nebraska has over 200,000 acres of planted timber, and has honestly won the title of uThe tree planting State." While the planted timber is unequal in area to the natural timber, and, as a rule, is inferior to it in thrift and quality, it has had greater influence than the natural timber in changing the appearance of the State from unbroken prairie to a combination of farm and woodland. It has already been pointed out that the natural timber occupies the low land along the streams and ravines. Looking across the country, the natural timber is often entirely hidden from view, or else so Yearbook U. S. Dept of Agriculture, 1901. PLATE XI. FIG. 1.— NATURAL FOREST GROWTH OF THE LAST FORTY-FIVE YEARS. CITY, NEBR. NEBRASKA FIG. 2.— YOUNG NATURAL FOREST. NEBRASKA CITY. NEBR. THE TIMBER RESOURCES OF NEBRASKA. 211 obscured that its importance is not full}7 recognized. On the other hand, the planted timber, usually near or about the farmstead, nearly always occupies a commanding situation on the higher slopes or the uplands, where its extent, size, and prominence are considerably magnified. Thus, the casual observer receives his impression almost entirely from the planted timber. VALUE OF THE PLANTED TIMBER OF NEBRASKA. GENERAL UTILITY. The fact that the trees are located in conjunction with the farmstead gives the planted timber distinctive value in several ways. If located advantageously, it serves a very useful purpose in modifying the climate of the farmstead. Climate is the sum total of weather influ- ences. Wind, sunshine, temperature, and atmospheric humidity are important factors. Whatever modifies one of these factors modifies climate. The climate of Nebraska is somewhat rigorous on account of wind and extremes of temperature, so that a regulation of these features by any means is desirable. The benefits derived from a body of timber planted in connection with the farmstead are principally the following: WIND PROTECTION. — It gives protection from the Avind. This is important at all seasons of the year. In summer, by checking the wind, it retards the evaporation of moisture from the soil in gardens, orchards, and near-by fields. In the same way it prevents the loss of fruit and breakage of orchard trees and protects the buildings from the violent gales that occur with great frequency on the plains. In many cases trees alone have saved buildings from destruction by hur- ricanes. Its value in winter is equally pronounced. At that time the orchard is so susceptible to injury from high wind that the loss of the fruit crop and even damage to the trees as a result of winter storms are frequent occurrences in the unprotected orchard. Many orchardists regard profitable fruit growing on the plains as dependent almost entirely upon the protection of the trees by wind-breaks. Protection to the buildings and farm animals in winter is also important. Unpro- tected houses require more fuel than protected ones. Unsheltered live stock of any kind require more feed than those which are shel- tered, though the shelter be nothing more than a grove of trees, and, even with increase of feed, unsheltered animals will shrink in flesh during winter storms. Trees, properly located, will prevent many serious losses of this character. SHADE. — Plantations of trees protect the farmstead from the direct sun, which is often extremely disagreeable. One of the most impress- ive things on the high unsettled prairies in summer is the utter lack 212 YEARBOOK OF THE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. of shade. For miles and miles one may seek in vain for a moment's shelter from the uninterrupted sunshine. Even the grasshoppers seek to protect themselves from the burning- heat by creeping into the meager shade of fence posts and tufts of grass. There are still some dooryards in Nebraska entirely without shade trees; but compared with those which have them, the number is small. The value of shade for the comfort of the dooryard, walks, and drives, and also for the protection of domestic fowls and farm animals, can hardly be overestimated. FUEL. — The planted timber supplies fuel which is much needed. Nebraska has no coal deposits, and the small area of its natural timber gives an insufficient supply of fuel. Wood and coal must be shipped from the nearest sources of supply, which, for some localities, are -±00 or 500 miles distant. Moreover, the high price of wood and coal compels many to economize in their use by substituting other mate- rials, such as corncobs, and, in years of plenty, corn in the ear. But in recent years many farmers have reaped the benefits of previous forethought and labor in obtaining from their planted groves an abun- dance of fuel for home use. Such saving often amounts to over $100 per 3rear on a single farm. CONSTRUCTION. — There are many purposes on the farm for which wood materials can be obtained in the plantation. Posts and poles are in constant demand for the building of sheds and fences, forked tim- bers are often wanted for special uses, and there is continual need of miscellaneous pieces. All such materials play a part in the improve- ment of the farm and would cost considerable money if they had to be purchased. It is difficult to estimate in dollars and cents the value of the planted timber from the standpoint of utility, because it is never possible to measure absolutely its benefits. Especial^ is this true of any region so deficient in natural timber as Nebraska. But could the real value be estimated, it would certainly be high, for the value of an}Tthing so influential upon the comfort and economy of the farm is very great. COMMERCIAL VALUE OF PLANTED TIMBER IN NEBRASKA. To a certain extent Nebraska farmers regard their plantations from the standpoint of utility, and are unwilling to cut and sell the timber products. However, experience has shown that for purposes such as fence posts, poles, and rough lumber, planted timber can be grown at a profit equal to that from agricultural crops on similar soil. Cottonwood lumber from planted trees has been used extensively for dimension stuff and inside work in barns and sheds, being consid- ered for such uses full}7 as durable as pine, while much cheaper. The prevailing price is from &!:-> to £15 per thousand feet. As indicating the returns to be expected from such an investment, Mr. K. M. Cole, Yearbook U. S. Dept. of Agriculture, 1901, PLATE XII. THE TIMBER RESOURCES OF NEBRASKA. 213 whose farm is situated 3i miles southwest of Plattsmouth, has given the results from a 3-acre Cotton wood grove (see PL XII) planted in 1860. This grove was planted for general purposes. Its use for wind-break, shade, and ornament has fully repaid for the labor and cost of establishing it. Its commercial value, as represented in the following statement, is to be considered as additional to its utility value: Remits from a 3-acre Cottonwood grove planted in 1860. Cost: Land, at $10 per acre $30. 00 Preparing land for planting 3. 00 Seedlings 15.00 Planting 4. 50 Four years' cultivation 30. 00 Sawing 16,000 feet, at $7.50 per thousand 120. 00 Total cost.. 202.50 Proceeds: 80 cords wood, at $1.25 net 100. 00 16,000 feet lumber, at $13 208. 00 15 cords wood from tops, at $1 15. 00 50 cords wood still standing, worth $1.25 per cord 62. 50 Present value of land, at $60 per acre 180. 00 Total proceeds 565. 50 RECAPITULATION. Total proceeds $565. 50 Total cost, exclusive of interest on investment 202. 50 Net increase 363. 00 Return less increased value of land 213. 00 Net annual profit 5. 32 The trees were planted 8 by 8 feet, and up to the time of cutting some firewood had been obtained from the broken limbs and dead trees. Use of the land for pasturage, Mr. Cole thinks, would offset the taxes. Part of the lumber was used to build a barn, the rest sold at the price given — $13 per thousand feet. There are many instances, especially in eastern Nebraska, of Cotton- wood trees in general-purpose plantations- giving returns equal to or exceeding these when sawn into lumber. As an illustration of the growth and products of Black Walnut as a planted tree, the grove of Mrs. Kiser, 3 miles southwest of Mynard, Cass County, may be mentioned. The grove, which is about 35 years old, and consists of 8 acres in the form of a shelter belt around the farmstead, was planted originally 8 by 8 feet. On account of thin- ning and the dy ing out of some of the trees, the stand has become irregular. The growth is also uneven, owing to inequality of the soil and to the pasturage of part of the grove. One-fourth acre of the 214 YEARBOOK OF THE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. average and a similar area of the best trees were measured, and show the following averages: Growth and products of Black Walnut, one-half acre. Age. v Character of growth. Number of trees. Diameter breast- high. Total height. Length of bole. Years. Inches. Feet. Feet. 35.... Average, one- fourth acre. 59 9.6 40.9 20.2 35.... Best, one- fourth acre. 60 10.3 58.4 32.2 In the case of average growth, each tree would furnish, on an aver- age, 12 posts, besides some wood. The 59 trees together would furnish 708 posts, worth, at 10 cents each, $70.80, an acreage value of $283.20. In the case of best growth, each tree would furnish 20 posts, with some wood. The entire quarter acre (60 trees) would furnish 1,200 posts, worth $120, giving an acreage value of $480. Enough wood has been cut to pay for the planting and cultivation, and the wood obtained from the remaining trees would pay for cutting the posts. The value of the posts, therefore, would be the net value of the grove. Per acre this value is, for the average part $283.20, and for the best part $480. For post production other timbers, such as Black Locust, Hardy Catalpa, Red Cedar, Russian Mulberry, and Osage Orange are in many portions of the State more valuable than Black Walnut. ESTHETIC VALUE OF PLANTED TIMBER IN NEBRASKA. On account of its high value in general utility and commerce the planted timber of Nebraska has a good influence upon the social well- being of the State. It gives pleasure because it contributes so much to the comfort and prosperity of the people. Nebraska farmers know that their pleasant home surroundings are largely the result of their own labors. They have changed the wild prairie into1 productive farms, and in the midst of barrenness have reared comfortable homes and surrounded them with trees, until the whole State is a picture of rural comfort. The beauty of the State, like its resources, has been developed by slow, painstaking work. It is inevitable that after creating so much of their State's value and attractiveness Nebraska people should be alert for its further development. The planted timber contributes to the social well-being of the people also through the real pleasure it gives them. It benefits young and old alike. The children love the walnuts, the maples, and the elms that stand in their father's dooiyard. They sport in their shade and clamber among their branches. Their fancy and aspirations are often stirred by their lofty tops as by nothing else. From the trees them- selves more than from books or lectures the children learn the value THE TIMBER RESOURCES OF NEBRASKA 215 of forests. Nebraska children learn from these trees another impor- tant lesson. They see in their tree-protected homes the results of long-continued labor, and come to know the close relation that exists between intelligent work and well-being. But the sense of pleasure and satisfaction from trees is not lost with the passing of childhood. It continues and increases with years. No one in Nebraska more fully enjoys his possessions than the man who can walk among his extensive groves of planted timber with his friends and call their attention to the many interesting facts connected with the growth of the trees and the methods of cultivation. To accompany such a man on a trip of this kind is a real delight. GOVERNMENT INTEREST IN PLANTING IN NEBRASKA. Each successful plantation in Nebraska by benefiting one portion has improved the entire region. The Government for this reason is interested in the promotion of individual planting until every land- owner shall plant in quantity sufficient for his needs. In Nebraska the Government has a further duty. In the State it owns 9,798,688 acres of land, the larger body of which centers in the region known as the sand hills.1 Repeated trials have proved the sand hills unfit for any branch of agriculture except grazing, and for this purpose the sand hills proper do not have a high value. Coincident with the experiments which proved agriculture a failure for the region, other experiments and investigations have shown the natural condi- tions to be well suited to the growing of timber. Dr. Charles E. Bessey, who studied the region most thoroughly from the botanical standpoint, was one of the first to call attention to the possibility of foresting the sand hills. In his report to the State board of agricul- ture in 1892, he stated: During the year an investigation was made of the region in northern Nebraska known as the sand-hill country, in order to ascertain what native plants grow natu- rally upon the hills, and in the valleys, with especial reference to their value in sup- plying forage to domestic animals. The results of this investigation prove to be of unusual interest, showing us that in the sand hills we have a region quite unlike the remainder of the State in many of its physical features. The report made by Mr. J. G. Smith at once suggests the possibility of turning these hills and valleys to some better use than they now serve, and the probability that with some effort they might be covered with profitable forest growth. From all that I have been able to learn of the region, I am led to believe that it is possible to cover large tracts of this country with trees and shrubs, from which a good revenue might eventually be derived. In the same report L. E. Hicks, geologist of the State board of agriculture, said: The foresting of the sand hills, if that shall ever happily be accomplished by com- bined and persistent effort of individuals, or by a liberal policy on the part of the National and State governments, will add a new artificial condition of considerable importance to the highly favorable natural conditions which already exist. These opinions are approved by all who have studied the sand-hill 1 Report of the Commissioner of the General Land Office, 1900. 216 YEARBOOK OF THE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. region from a scientific point of view, as well as by those who have become familiar with its conditions by long* residence or experience.1 An experiment begun by the Division of Forestry in 1890 has thrown much light on the possibility of foresting the sand hills. In the spring of that year the Division of Forestry sent a large number of pines for planting on one of the worst locations in the sand hills in the southwestern part of Holt County. (See PL XIII.) The land being too sandy to admit of plowing, the trees were set in furrows run through the grass, and have remained without cultivation. The plantation contains four species, Scotch, Austrian, Rock (Pinus pon- d&rosa scopulorum), and Jack Pine (P. divaricata). The Scotch and Austrian pines are now 6 to 8 feet high, the Rock Pine 4 to 6 feet, and the Jack Pine 12 to 18 feet. With the trees now entering upon their period of greatest growth, their thrift indicates complete adaptability to the situation, and unless burned out they will certainly attain suit- able size for lumbering. The conclusion forces itself that the species which are adapted to that location will grow on hundreds of thousands of acres in the sand hills where the natural conditions are precisely the same. (See PL XIV.) NEED OF FOREST TREE PLANTING RESERVES. The situation warrants the establishment by the Government of extensive reserves in the sand-hill region for the growing of timber. On such reserves the work of planting should be speedily begun and carried over those areas best adapted to timber. It should by no means fall short of covering a sufficient area to be self -protective, and if its value is demonstrated to be as great as it is believed it will be, the area should be accordingly extended. An extensive forest in the sand hills would soon have an immense value to the surrounding region, whether considered for its climatic influence, its products, or its example. It would influence favorably the wind and temperature over a large part of western Nebraska, and by retarding evaporation of moisture from the soil would make the region within and about the reserve more moist than at present. In fifteen or twenty years it would yield a considerable quantity of fuel and posts, in twenty-five or thirty years its timber would be large enough for telegraph poles and railroad ties, and thereafter if properly managed it would be a source of continual revenue. Moreover, if the Government reclaims its land in the sand hills in this way it will stimulate private owners to plant extensively, and in all probability result in time in the reclamation of the entire 15,000,000 anvs comprising the sand-hill region. It will also be a valuable example in dealing with the sand barrens of the Atlantic coast, the Lake States, and other regions of the interior. 1 P. A. Rydberg, Flora of the Sand Hills of Nebraska, Contributions from U. S. National Herbarium, Vol. III. Yearbook U. S. Dept of Agriculture, 1901. PLATE XIII. FIG. 1.— THE SAND HILLS. FIG. 2.— PINE PLANTATION IN SAND HILLS, LOOKING NORTH. HOLT COUNTY, NEBR. FIG. 3.— PINE PLANTATION IN SAND HILLS, LOOKING WEST. HOLT COUNTY, NEBR. Yearbook U. S. Dept. of Agriculture, 1901. PLATE XIV. FIG. 1 .—YOUNG YELLOW PINE ENCROACHING UPON A SAND HILL. SHERIDAN COUNTY, NEBR. FIG. 2.— YOUNG PINES ENCROACHING UPON A SAND HILL. DAWES COUNTY, NEBR. Bui. 121, Forest Service, U. S. Dept. of Agriculture. PLATE I. Issued February 3, 1913. U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, FOREST SERVICE—BULLETIN 121. HENRY S. GRAVES, Forester. FORESTATION OF THE SAND HILLS OF NEBRASKA AND KANSAS. BY CARLOS G. BATES, FOREST ASSISTANT, AND ROY G. PIERCE, DEPUTY SUPERVISOR. OCT 29 1914 Division of Forestry University of California WASHINGTON: GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE. 1913. FOREST SERVICE. HENRY S. GRAVES, Forester. ALBERT F. POTTER, Associate Forester. HERBERT A. SMITH, Editor. BRANCH OF SILVICULTURE. W. B. GREELEY, Assistant Forester in Charge. EARLE H. CLAPP, Forest Inspector. SILVICS. RAPHAEL ZON, Chief. S. T. DANA, Assistant Chief. DISTRICT 2. SMITH RILEY, District Forester. S. L. MOORE, Assistant District Forester in Charge of Silviculture. C. G. BATES, In Charge of Silvical Investigations. NEBRASKA NATIONAL FOREST. R. G. PIERCE, Deputy Supervisor. LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, FOREST SERVICE, Washington, D. C., September 3, 1912. SIR: I have the honor to transmit herewith a manuscript entitled "Forestation of the Sand Hills of Nebraska and Kansas," by Carlos G. Bates, in charge of investigative work, District 2, and Roy G. Pierce, Deputy Supervisor of the Nebraska National Forest, and to recommend its publication as Bulletin 121 of the Forest Service. Respectfully, HENRY S. GRAVES, Forester. Hon. JAMES WILSON, Secretary of Agriculture. CONTENTS. Page. Purpose of the bulletin 7 The sand-hill region 8 Location and area 8 Origin and structure 9 Climate : 11 Precipitation 11 Temperature 13 Humidity 13 Wind 14 The important climatic features 14 Vegetation 15 Grasses 15 Herbaceous plants 15 Shrubs 15 Trees 16 Industries 17 Need for forests in the sand-hill region , 19 Beginnings of forest planting in the sand-hill region 20 National Forests established 22 Nurseries established 22 The sand-hill nurseries ' . . 23 Garden City Nursery 23 Halsey Nursery 25 Location 25 Soil and moisture 25 Nursery operations 27 Fertilizing 27 Seed sowing 29 Care of seed beds 31 Transplanting 32 Digging and packing 35 Field planting 35 Species 35 Species for the Nebraska sand hills 35 Species for the Kansas sand hills 37 Kind of stock 39 Conifers 39 Hardwoods 40 Methods of planting v 40 The slit method .' 40 The square-hole method 41 The cone method 41 The trencher method 42 Planting after plowing 43 Field sowing 44 Effect of climate on time of planting 44 Enemies of plantations 45 Fire 45 Insects 45 Birds and rodents 46 Growth 47 Conclusions 49 5 ILLUSTRATIONS. Page., PLATE I. Young western yellow pines Frontispiece. II. Fig. 1. — The Halsey Nursey. Fig. 2. — A general .view of the sand hills 8 III. Fig. 1.— A "blow out." Fig. 2.— Sand-hill willows on moist north slopes 12 IV. Fig. 1. — A small grove of hackberry. Fig. 2. — Young native western yellow pine 16 V. Fig. 1. — Jack pine on the Bruner plantation. Fig. 2. — The first planting of jack pine at Halsey, at four years 20 VI. Fig. 1. — The first planting of jack pine at Halsey, at eight years. . Fig. 2. — A fine individual specimen of yellow pine 20 VII. Fig. 1. — Making the first transplant bed of jack pine. Fig. 2. — Trans- plant beds at Halsey in 1912 32 VIII. Fig. 1. — Digging seedlings with tree digger. Fig. 2. — Digging seed- lings with spades 32 IX. Fig. 1.— The slit method of planting in furrows. Fig. 2.— Results of the slit planting of 1903-4 40 X. Fig. 1.— Results of the trencher planting of 1911. Fig. 2.— Seed beds broadcasted in 1912 40 XI. Fig. 1. — Black-locust seedlings, showing development in one year. Fig. 2. — Hardy catalpa seedlings, showing development in one year 44 XII. Fig. 1. — Two-year-old seedlings of jack pine as grown at Halsey in 1905. Fig. 2. — Two-year-old seedlings of jack pine as grown at Halsey in 1912. Fig. 3. — Three-year-old transplants of jack pine. . 44 XIII. Fig. 1. — Two-year-old seedling of yellow pine as used for field plant- ing in 1905. Fig. 2. — Two-year-old seedlings of yellow pine as ""grown at Halsey nursery in 1912. Fig. 3. — Three-year-old trans- plants of yellow pine 44 V TEXT FIGURE. PIG. 1. — The sand-hill regions of Nebraska and Kansas 8 6 OCT29 1914 Division of Forestry- University of California FORESTATION OF THE SAND HILLS OF NEBRASKA AND KANSAS. PURPOSE OF THE BULLETIN. Not only has the tree planting by the Forest Service in the Nebraska sand hills aroused a wide interest, but at present, under the provisions of the act of March 4, 1911, which permits the free distribution of trees within the area covered by the Kinkaid Homestead Act, there is within that region a decided increase in tree planting. Because of this impetus to tree growing, it is worth while to give a record of the work which has been accomplished and to show for the benefit of planters the mistakes which have been made and the successes which have been attained. The problem of foresting the sand hills is unique. It is not so difficult as some similar undertakings, and those who have followed the work closely have never had any doubt as to its ultimate success. Both in Europe,1 in the Netherlands, Gascony, Prussia, and Den- mark, and in this country, at Cape Cod, the fixation of coastal sand dunes has been accomplished, even where the sand had been con- stantly moving and where forest trees were introduced successfully only after grasses and other low plants had been used to bind the soil. In all of these regions the ultimate object has been the permanent fixation by means of forests, and except in immediate proximity to the sea, where wind and salt spray have made tree growth impossible, this object has usually been accomplished. Afforestation of interior, or continental dunes, however, is a differ- ent problem from afforestation of coastal dunes. It has been accom- plished most notably in Turkestan, where the dune region closely resembles the sand hills of Nebraska. The coastal regions have one advantage over interior sand hills in the greater moisture content of both soil and atmosphere, and this gives an opportunity to choose from a greater variety of suitable trees. On the other hand, the sand- hill regions of Kansas and Nebraska have very little shifting sand; the necessity for planting preliminary soil binders never arises, since native vegetation quickly takes possession of new dune formations if left alone. In fact it is sometimes thought that there is enougli vegetation to present an obstacle to the forester. This difficulty is 1 Methods Used for Controlling and Reclaiming Sand Dunes, Bulletin 57, Bureau of Plant Industry^ U. S. Dept. of Agricluture, 1904. 8 FORESTATION, SAND HILLS NEBRASKA AND KANSAS. so easily overcome, however, that there is no real obstacle to foresta- tion except fire. The damage through fire depends very largely on public sentiment; since sentiment has elsewhere been educated to consider fire a common enemy, it seems probable that the grass fires of the sand hills will cease to be treated as matters of no moment and will come to an end as they have in the prairies farther east. With the prairie fire controlled, forests may easily be grown in the sand hills. LEGEND AREA OF SANDHILLS PRESENT RANGE or WESTERN YELLOW PINE ••• AREAS WHERE REMAINS OF YELLOW PINE HAVE SEEN FOUND FIG. 1.— The sand-hill regions of Nebraska and Kansas. THE SAND-HILL REGION. LOCATION AND AREA. The sand h'dls of Nebraska are mainly in the northwestern third of the State; they occupy an area of approximately 20,000 square miles north of the Platte River and west of the middle line of Holt and Greeley Counties. Hall, Perkins, Chase, and Dundy Counties also contain sand-hill areas. (See Fig. 1.) Of the entire area of 76,840 square miles within the State they occupy approximately one-fourth. The line between sand hills and sandy ground of the Pine Ridge, Bui. 121, Forest Service, U S. Dept. of Agriculture. PLATE II. FIG. 1.— THE HALSEY NURSERY, AND A GENERAL VIEW OF THE SAND HILLS NORTH OF THE MIDDLE LOUP RIVER AT HALSEY, NEBR. FIG. 2.— A GENERAL VIEW OF THE SAND HILLS SOUTH OF THE MIDDLE LOUP RIVER, IN THE LOUP DIVISION OF THE NEBRASKA NATIONAL FOREST. Hills overgrazed and especially fitted for forestry. THE SAND-HILL REGION. 9 which occupies the northwest corner of the State, is not clearly defined, since the Arikaree formation, which is the foundation of the Pine Ridge, outcrops within the sand-hill area, notably along the Niobrara, Snake, and north side of the Platte Rivers. The absolute elevation of the sand hills is 1,900 feet at the east and 3,900 feet at the west end. Their elevation, however, is not appreciably greater than that of the surrounding land of other formations. The Kansas sand hills are much less extensive. They occupy a strip of ground from 5 to 30 miles wide on the south side of the Arkan- sas River, from the west boundary of the State eastward to the vicin- ity of Great Bend and Hutchinson. At the eastern extremity, how- ever, these hills are not strictly dunes, but are agricultural in char- acter, and hence hardly come within the category of true sand hills. A second strip of sand hills is found south of the Cimarron River, in southwestern Kansas, and is even less extensive than the first. The total area of sand hills in Kansas is about 1,500 square miles, or not more than one-fiftieth of the area of the State. Their elevation increases from east to west and is from 2,500 to 3,500 feet. Of the entire area of Kansas and Nebraska it is safe to say that fully 15,000 square miles, or nearly 10 per cent, are sand hills not fitted for agriculture, and therefore of greatest value as forest lands. These areas lie in the semiarid belt, mainly west of the one hundredth meridian, where the rainfall is generally less than 22 inches per annum. ORIGIN AND STRUCTURE. The Nebraska sand hills have undoubtedly been formed 1 by the breaking down of the Arikaree, a Tertiary sandstone which still exists in the Pine Ridge and in various " toadstool parks" in the western and northwestern counties, and which outcrops along the Niobrara, Snake, and North Platte Rivers. The sand has been moved to the eastward by the action of wind and water, principally the former, forming a layer from a few feet to several hundred feet thick above the Pierre shale which underlies the entire region. This action has been very recent, in fact, has hardly yet ceased, and to some extent, as in Ouster County, the sand has covered the loess, or heavy clay-loam soil, which is also a recent formation. There is little evidence of the direct action of water in bringing this sand eastward. Probably the Niobrara has had a very potent influence in its imme- diate vicinity, but most of the sand must have been carried from this stream to the southeast by wind, or to the eastward by some large stream which does not now exist, in the southern part of the region. The Kansas sand hills have been similarly formed, but with mate- rial of different origin. Those near the Arkansas River,2 and probably 1 Nebraska Geological Survey, Report of the State Geologist, 1903, vol. 1. 2 Soil Survey of the Garden City Area, Bureau of Soils, U. S. Dept. of Agriculture, 1904. 63519°— Bull. 121—13 2 10 FORESTATION, SAND HILLS NEBRASKA AND KANSAS. those along the Cimarron also, have been formed by the breaking down of the Tertiary grit found in the immediate vicinity, and also by the weathering of the rocks on the mountain sides at the head- waters of the Arkansas River. The mineral composition of these dune sands shows them to be composed of quartz, feldspar, mica, iron oxide, and other constituents which are characteristic of the local grit and of the granites of the Rocky Mountains. While these sand dunes are composed 1 of almost pure sand, medium or fine, and with parti- cles more or Jess rounded, there are present certain constituents which are not found in the Nebraska sands and which give the particles greater cohesion. The most important of these is probably iron oxide. The Colorado sand, which is found in a few localities in the Kansas sand hills, is very little different from the dune sand either chemically or minerally, but it has a slightly larger percentage of very fine sand and silt, and hence coheres more strongly. While the Kansas sand hills are, because of the greater amount of silt, compact and now almost perfectly stable, the Nebraska sand hills are still being moved, in many instances by the wind. Like all "active" sand dunes, they have a rough topography, whereas the Kansas hills are low, and the topography of that region may be typified by the word " rolling." The Nebraska sand hills may be divided into three regions, to be called the " wet-valley region," the " dry-valley region," and the " choppy hill region." The wet-valley region is, generally speaking, the northern portion of the hills and is typified by long valleys with an easterly and westerly bearing, in the east end of which there are usually one or two small bodies of water. These bodies of water vary greatly in size from year to year. The valleys are sometimes valuable for agriculture, and, especially in the vicinity of the lakes, make excellent hay meadows. The dry-valley region occupies the southern half of the sand-hill region and differs from the wet-valley region mainly in having a better soil drainage, which prevents the formation of lakes and ponds. •The topography is more rugged, and the hills are higher. At various places within both the wet and dry valley regions there are found areas of choppy hills, one of the largest of such areas being that lying between the Middle Loup and Dismal Rivers. While the general trend of the ridges and valleys in these localities is west- northwest and east-southeast, as throughout the region, here the ridges are short and frequently broken by round-topped hills, while the valleys are seldom more than a quarter of a mile long and are more frequently merely pockets. The underground drainage is com- i Six miles south of Garden City dune sand was found to be made up in the following proportions : Grave 1.1 per cent, coarse sand 8 per cent, medium sand 12.2 per cent, fine sand 56.2 per cent, very fine sand 16.6 per cent, silt 1 per cent, clay 4.6 per cent. THE SAND-HILL EEGION. 11 plete, and there is no surface run-off. The hills are comparatively high and rise from 60 to 100 feet above the interior valleys and from 200 to 300 feet above the valleys of the main streams, such as the Middle Loup. Along such streams permanent springs are more or less common, which indicates that an impervious substratum under- lies the hills at no great depth. It is with these choppy hills that the forester is principally concerned, since they have no agricultural value whatever. They are evidently the youngest of the hills and have not yet ceased to be affected by the wind, though there is evidence that they have become a good deal more stable since the buffalo ceased to trample them. With overgrazing or any other influence which kills the vegetation the sand is released, " blow-outs" are formed, and in a few years a hilltop may change position appreciably. Since these least stable hills are so near to the agricultural land of eastern Nebraska their fixation is of great importance. While the dune sand of the hilltops, as shown by analysis of the soil at Halsey, is practically pure silica * and contains less than 1 per cent of organic matter, the soil of the valleys and pockets is usually very rich in humus. The continuous collection of this material is made possible by the lack of surface drainage. As a result of it the vegetation of the bottoms is very heavy, while that of the hilltops is correspondingly light. The heavy vegetation of the bottoms uses up a lot of the moisture, and this, in the absence of rains, makes these by all odds the most difficult sites for the introduction of new plant life. CLIMATE. PRECIPITATION. The rainfall of the sand-hill region varies from 15 to 26 inches per annum. It is well distributed to assist the ordinary forms of vegeta- tion, since it comes largely in the growing season, but because of the decided lack of snow young woody plants which need protection in their first years have great difficulty in getting started. The precipitation increases month by month from the beginning to the middle of the year and then decreases to the end of the year. Since May and June are moist, coniferous-tree growth seems to be especially favored. The dryness of the fall months permits proper ripening of woody growth, so that fall frosts seldom do any harm. Table 1 shows the precipitation at Halsey, Nebr., and Garden City, Kans., headquarters of the Nebraska and Kansas Forests, respec- tively. For comparison with a yellow-pine region the records for Fort Robinson, Nebr., are also given. i Analysis of soil from hilltop at Halsey Nursery showed 97.4 per cent of insoluble mineral matter. 12 FORESTATION, SAND HILLS NEBRASKA AND KANSAS. TABLE 1. — Precipitation by months, Halsey, Nebr., and Garden City, Kans.1 Month. Halsey, Nebr.2 Garden City, Kans.3 Fort Rob- inson, Nebr. Lowest record. Highest record. Normal. Lowest record. Highest record. Normal. Normal. January . Inches. 0.08 Trace. .16 .13 2.17 .79 1.63 .82 .30 Trace. .05 Trace. 17.71 Inches. 0.68 1.04 3.32 6.37 6.53 5.64 5.28 5.84 4.62 4.81 1.19 1.78 2S. 44 Inches. 0.40 .45 .96 2.54 4.18 3.55 3.79 2.68 1.75 1.46 .45 .75 22.96 Inches. Trace. Trace. Trace. .06 .42 .60 .62 .15 .03 Trace. Trace. Trace. 8.92 Inches. 1.55 4.55 2.46 5.70 6.49 7.89 7.91 4.24 . 4.57 3.78 3.77 2.00 28. 75 Inches. 0.32 .82 .84 2.06 2.34 3.51 3.25 1.79 1.78 1.08 .64 .62 19.05 Inches. 0.66 .57 1.16 1.65 2.69 2.91 2.04 1.57 1.08 1.32 .39 ie!73 February March April May June July August September October November December Year 1 Data furnished by local offices Weather Bureau, Lincoln and Topeka. 2 Record nine years, 1903-1911. 3 Record 22J years, 1889-1911. Both in Kansas and Nebraska the precipitation increases rapidly from west to east, which is contrary to the usual rule of greater precipitation with greater elevation. Table 2 shows this for a num- ber of stations in or adjacent to the sand-hill regions. TABLE 2. — Annual precipitation 4 of sand-hill region. Station. Longitude. Mean an- nual pre- cipitation. Length of record. NEBRASKA. Ewing . . 98 20 Inches. 23.01 Years. 21 Valentine .. • 100 30 22.46 23 North Platte 100 45 18.86 38 Bridgeport ... 103 05 15.44 15 KANSAS. Hutchinson 98 00 28.44 12 Dodge 100 00 20.84 33 Ulysses 101 20 17.24 18 Coolidge 102 00 15.51 12 * Data from Climatological Reports, Nebraska and Kansas Sections Weather Bureau, 1911. While the precipitation in Kansas is just about equal to that of points in Nebraska corresponding in longitude, it is important to remember that the same amount is less effective in Kansas because of the much higher rate of evaporation. The evaporation at Dodge, Kans., for example, was 54.6 inches per annum, while for the same period at North Platte, Nebr., it was only 41.3 inches per annum. While the precipitation in none of the sand-hill regions is great, and varies much from year to year as well as from month to month, the lowest quantity ever recorded at Dodge, Kans.,5 10.1 inches in & During a period of 33 years in which the drought period of the nineties is included. Bui. 121, Forest Service, U. S. Dept. of Agriculture. PLATE III. FIG. 1.— A " BLOW-OUT" IN THE NORTHWEST FACE OF A HILL. FIG. 2.— SAND-HILL WILLOWS ON MOIST NORTH SLOPES WHERE PLANTING is MOST SUCCESSFUL AND EVEN DIRECT SEEDING is POSSIBLE. THE SAND-HILL REGION. 13 one year, would, if applied to the receptive soil of the sand hills, undoubtedly be sufficient to sustain tree growth, if the trees were already well established. Only newly planted trees are likely to suffer. It is surprising how well the sand below the surface layer will hold water and how readily moisture is brought up from the lower depths by capillary action. While the quantity is less than in a heavy soil, it varies less from season to season. In the fall of 1911, after unusual drought for several months at Garden City, the very- sandy soil of the hilltops was found to be dry to a depth of only 8 inches, while in some places the more compact soils were dry to a depth of 34 inches. In the Nebraska sand hills in 1911 the sand dried out to a depth of about 4 inches where there was no vegetation, but to a depth of from 14 to 18 inches under sod. Under these circum- stances trees of the previous year's planting suffered very little. TEMPERATURE. Table 3 shows the important features with respect to the tempera- ture at Halsey and Garden City. The mean temperatures at Fort Robinson are also given. TABLE 3. — Monthly temperatures at Halsey, Nebr., and at Garden City, Kans.1 Month. Mean temperature. Mean maximum temperature.2 Mean minimum temperature.3 Fort Robin- son. Halsey. Garden City. Halsey. Garden City. Halsey. Garden City. January 23.4 23.2 34.1 46.4 55.1 65.3 71.0 70.1 60.9 48.1 35.0 27.4 46.7 23.0 26.8 38.6 48.6 57.6 68.0 72.5 72.6 65.0 f.l. 1 38.2 27.5 49.1 30.6 29.2 43.3 54.6 63.4 73.2 77.4 76.5 69.4 55.6 43.0 31.6 54.0 36.2 41.0 53.6 64.4 72.1 81.8 86.8 87.6 81.1 67.5 52.3 40.0 63.7 o F 46 43 59 72 80 88 92 93 84 73 60 46 69.5 o F 9.9 12.7 23.7 32.7 43.0 54.1 58.2 57.7 48.8 34.7 24.1 15.0 34.6 0 F. 17 15 26 38 49 59 63 63 54 39 '26 17 38.8 February March April May June . July August September October November December Year 1 From data furnished by local Weather Bureau offices at Lincoln and Topeka. 2 Absolute maximum: Halsey, 107°; Garden City, 112°. 3 Absolute minimum: Halsey, —32°; Garden City, —32°. NOTE.— Length of the growing season (data from Weather Bureau Bulletin "Q"): Halsey, 132 days; Garden City, 155 days. HUMIDITY. The atmospheric humidity of the sand-hill region is rather low as compared with the East, but considerably higher than that of the Rocky Mountain region, where coniferous forests grow naturally. It can not, therefore, be said that the lack of atmospheric moisture explains the lack of forests in the sand hills. The mean annual humidity in the vicinity of Halsey is about 67 per cent and in the 14 FORESTATION, SAND HILLS NEBRASKA AND KANSAS. vicinity of Garden City about 65 per cent. While for short periods the humidity may be low, the variation by months is slight. January and February have the highest relative humidity. WIND. Both regions are decidedly windy, but the Kansas region has a mean wind velocity 8 per cent greater than the Nebraska region. While the south winds of summer are fairly desiccating, it has been shown at Halsey that the summer winds have very little damaging effect, unless the soil is extremely dry. The early spring winds from the northwest are damaging to both field and nursery, because they move the sand and dry out the plants. The winter winds, while not so high, dry out the plants because of the lack of protective snow covering. Trees which are well established do not suffer as much as those newly planted; fall planting, therefore, is almost certain to result in heavy losses or complete failure. Table 4 shows the velocity and direction of the wind at Valentine, Nebr., and Dodge, Kans., the stations where such records are obtain- able near the sand-hill planting areas. TABLE 4. — Direction and velocity of wind, by months. Month. Valentine, Nebr. Dodge City, Kans. Prevailing direction^ Velocity per hour.2 Prevailing direction.2 Velocity per hour.2 January. .. NW. NW. N. N. N. S. S. S. s. NW. NW. NW. Miles. 9.8 10.0 11.7 13.0 12.0 11.1 10.0 9.6 10.5 10.5 10.0 9.8 10.7 NW. NW. NW. SE. SE. SE. SE. SE. SE. SE. NW. NW. Miles. 10.1 10.9 12.7 13.8 13.2 12.7 11.3 10.6 11.2 11.0 9.9 10.1 11.5 February March./. April May June July August . September October November December. Year 1 Data from Weather Bureau Bulletin "Q.'; 2 Data from local offices Weather Bureau, Lincoln and Topeka. THE IMPORTANT CLIMATIC FEATURES. The three most important features of the climates of both sand- hill regions are: (1) The lack of winter precipitation in the form of snow, to form a protective covering for young trees; (2) the great variations in precipitation from month to month, partly counter- balanced by the good water-storing properties of the hills; and (3) the winds of late winter and early spring. While the temperature extremes are not great, the Kansas region doubtless suffers most by reason of its constantly higher temperatures. Especially in summer THE SAND-HILL KEGION. 15 these hasten the depletion of the soil moisture and, if young trees become covered with sand, cause them to be parched to crispness. Temperatures are higher at Halsey and Garden City than at Fort Robinson, Nebr., in the heart of the yellow-pine belt of northwestern Nebraska, where precipitation is proportionately less. VEGETATION. The sand hills of Nebraska and Kansas produce a great variety of grasses, herbs, and shrubs, and a few trees. GEASSES. The distinctive vegetation of the sand hills, as of most semiarid regions, consists of grasses. The most common and most widely distributed grass is the sand-hill bunch grass (Andropogon scoparius), which indicates a stable soil. The grasses which first come in on loose sand, and which are typical of "blow-outs" and south slopes, are the long-leafed reed grass (Calamovilfa longifolia), which is some- times 4 or 5 feet high, but forms a very light cover, the redfieldia (Redfieldia flexuosa), the eragrostis (Eragrostis tennis), and the prairie muhlenbergia (Muhlenbergia pungens). No less distinct is the switch grass (Panicum virgatum), which forms dense tangles in the rich soil of the dry-bottom situations and is frequently cut for hay. Only in the areas of harder ground, which occur throughout the sand hills, are the grama and buffalo grasses common; these are the most valuable of all the grasses for both summer and winter forage. HERBACEOUS PLANTS. Some of the most common herbaceous plants are the digitate psoralea (Psoralea digitata) , the prairie thistle (Carduus plattensis) , a broad-leafed cactus (Opuntia polycanfha) , several species of Euphor- bia (spurges, locally called " milkweed"), and the wild sweet pea (Lathyrus ornatus) . Of common weeds the sunflower and the squirrel- tail or tickle grass are the most widely distributed and the most persistent. Russian thistle gains a foothold in the Kansas sand hills wherever sod is broken. SHRUBS. Of the numerous woody undershrubs the yucca, or soap- weed (Yucca glauca), is probably the most striking plant of the sand-hill region and is least abundant where the soil is the most stable and firm. Other shrubs, most of which are more or less gregarious and form clumps or mats on the ground, are the sand-hill willow (Salix Jiumilis), very common on north slopes and indicative of good mois- ture conditions,1 the redroot or New Jersey tea (Ceanothus ovatus), i Even the sand-bar and the peach-leafed willows have been found with this smaller species, where the moisture conditions are especially good. 16 FORESTATION, SAND HILLS NEBRASKA AND KANSAS. typical of sandy hilltops; the sand cherry (Prunus ~besseyi\ found in almost any site, but especially in the loose sand- around blow-outs; and the shoe-string bush (Amorpha canescens). Wolf berry (Sym- phoricarpos occidentalis) , chokecherry, and wild plum frequently form thickets on the slopes of pockets facing the southeast, where they are favored by the moisture from snowdrifts. The first named seldom becomes more than 2J feet high, the other two frequently 15 feet. From the standpoint of forestry one of the most important of the woody plants is the low bearberry or kinnikinnik (Arctostaphylos uva-ursi). While this grows in only a few limited localities, on moist north slopes, it is thought to be indicative of conditions favorable for western yellow pine, since it is an almost invariable associate of that tree in the Rocky Mountains. Typical of the stream valleys in both Kansas and Nebraska are the false indigo (Amorpha fruticosa], the buffalo berry, peach-leafed willow, sand-bar willow, wolfberry, plum, and chokecherry. The diamond willow, one of the Nebraska sand hills' most valuable small trees, is not found in Kansas. On the whole, shrubby growth is much more typical of the Nebraska than the Kansas sand hills, which usually have a heavy grass sod that does not permit the growth of shrubs. TREES. In only a few localities in the Nebraska sand hills do actual trees grow; in the Kansas region they are still more rare. Of the hard- woods, green ash, hackberry, cottonwood, and aspen are the only ones which attain to tree size in the sand hills proper. While these species (except aspen) grow, for the most part, along the main watercourses, there are clumps of them in the sand hills proper. All of the trees so far found are less than 25 years old and have sprung from sprouts after the last general prairie fire, so that it is impossible to say what size the trees may attain at maturity. The largest are now no more than 25 feet high and 8 inches in diameter. Probably in the poor soil they will never attain large size. Western yellow pine, on the contrary, grows as large in the vicinity of the sand hills as elsewhere in its range. Practically, there is no yellow pine in the sand hills proper, it being confined to the Arikaree formation on the west, north, and south sides of the sand hills and to the loess soil of one or two canyons on the east. Under favorable moisture conditions in the Arikaree formation of the Pine Ridge yellow pine not infrequently reaches a height of 100 feet. There are also many fine specimens in this formation along the Niobrara and Snake Rivers and in the counties west of the sand hills. In consider- ing the possibility of growing yellow pine in the sand hills the fact Bui 121, Forest Service, U. S Dept. of Agriculture. PLATE IV. FIG. 1.— A SMALL GROVE OF HACKBERRY, IN THE SAND HILLS 4 MILES FROM NEAREST STREAM. Maximum height 25 feet, diameter 8 inches. FIG. 2.— YOUNG NATIVE WESTERN YELLOW PINE IN THE NEBRASKA SAND-HILL REGION NEAR THE NlOBRARA RlVER, NEBRASKA NATIONAL FOREST. THE SAND-HILL REGION. 17 should not be lost sight of that the sand hills contain the same material as the sandstone of the Arikaree formation. Writing on information obtained in 1893, Kydberg 1 stated: Pine logs have at a few places been found buried in the sand. There is a canyon in Ouster County which still contains living pines. It is very hard to explain how pine seed could have been carried from the Pine Ridge in Dawes and Sheridan Counties to Custer County, and none have been sown in the intermediate tract. * * * Very likely in former days the pines grew, if not all over the hills, at least in many places among them. The red cedar is at present not uncommon on the hillside along the Dismal River, and I myself found stumps and fragments of this tree at several places in the sand hills, where there was no vestige of living trees. It seems very likely that yellow pine was formerly common in all of the sand-hill region of Nebraska, as well as in the sandstone coun- try; that it has been driven out of the sand-hill, or " long-grass," region by the repeated destructive fires of the past; and that it has been able to survive in practically all of the " short-grass " sandstone region, because the fires there were much less destructive. It is a well-known fact that yellow pine is not killed by light grass fires. The same conditions have probably largely determined the present dis- tribution of red cedar. It is found now in Nebraska sand hills, mainly on the hard short-grass ground along the Dismal River, though it is well known that it will grow in sand; and in Kansas it is, similarly, found only on the hard ground southwest of the Kansas Forest. To sum up the situation as to tree growth in the Nebraska sand hills it may be said that, while unfavorable natural conditions, assisted by fires, have prevented the natural growth of coniferous forests, the soil conditions are favorable for the growth of the pines, and the climatic conditions are not such as to prevent the successful growing of these species by artificial means. The Kansas sand hills, on the other hand, do not show any evidence of ever having supported pine forests, probably on account of their recent formation, their great distance from the nearest established forests, and the distinct lack of snow, which is essential to natural reproduction. But there is nothing in these facts to prevent the growth of forests in the Kansas hills. INDUSTRIES. The principal industry of the sand-hill region of both States is cattle raising. The sand hills furnish excellent summer feed,2 which, during the spring and summer, is succulent and productive of both beef and milk, but after freezing is much less valuable than the forage of the short-grass region. The hay makes good roughage, but lacks protein, and is not strengthening if fed without grain. Occasionally cattle 1 Flora of the Sand Hills of Nebraska, Bulletin of the Division of Botany, Vol. Ill, no. 3, 1895. 2 Forage Crops for the Sand-Hill Section of Nebraska, Cir. 80, Bureau of Plant Industry, U. S. Dept. of Agriculture. 63519°— Bull. 121—13 3 18 FORESTATION, SAND HILLS NEBRASKA AND KANSAS. may be wintered in the hills. To be profitable the industry is depend- ent upon a supply of hay in connection with each summer range, except when steers are imported and grazed for the summer season only. For summer range alone from 10 to 25 acres are required to the head. The hills which are valuable only for this purpose, there- fore, do not produce a revenue to the stockman of more than 50 cents per acre, and the revenue to the Government for grazing use of National Forest land is only about one-tenth of this, or sometimes not more than 2 cents per acre. The development of water is necessary to the proper use of the sand hills for grazing, since there is no surface water, except in the wet valleys, and at times even this can not be reached by cattle without danger. Much of the sand-hill range would be more productive if more windmills were used, since cattle seldom use the grass more than 2 or 3 miles from water, and the ground near the water is therefore severely overgrazed, while good feed farther away goes to waste. In the wet valleys water is usually obtained at from 30 to 40 feet, and seldom in the driest situations at more than 125 feet. For pumping, windmills prevail, since they will operate for weeks without attention. The lower ground capable of producing natural or introduced hay crops has the highest value. It produces from 1 to 2 tons per acre, valued at from $3 to $5 per ton. Only a very small proportion of the sand-hill region, or that lying along the larger streams in some of the wide interior valleys, and the "hard ground" which occurs in small areas throughout, is fitted for agriculture. Potatoes and corn are the principal crops, though the nights are too cool for the best growth of corn. Much of the land which in past years has been considered agricultural has had to be abandoned because of the rapid impoverish- ment of the light soil and because of its movement by the mechanical action of the wind after the sod is destroyed by cultivation. On the other hand, much of this land has been profitably handled for forage crops such as alfalfa, and for such crops it is well fitted.1 Since the sand hills proper produce such a small revenue, and since either excessive grazing or agriculture may quickly destroy the pro- ductiveness of the land, the advantage of using the sand hills for the production of timber may readily be seen. Until the planting work has advanced much farther, however, and the rate of growth of the trees has been determined, it can not be stated with safety that forestry will bring a higher return on the land than conservative grazing. It is, however, quite certain that forestry will in time make possible much more extensive agriculture, both by protecting from wind and by changing the character of the soil by the addition of i Forage Crops of the Sand-Hill Section of Nebraska, Circular 80, Bureau of Plant Industry, U. S. Dept. of Agriculture. NEED FOB FORESTS. 19 humus so that it will not blow.1 This is especially true of the low rolling hills of the Platte region of Nebraska and of the Kansas hills. Much of the sand-hill ground is too precipitous for agriculture. NEED FOR FORESTS IN THE SAND-HILL REGION. Nebraska and Kansas have about as small a proportion of forest area as any two States in the Union. The natural forests are con- fined to belts of hardwoods along the eastern borders of these two States and to the pine forests of northwestern Nebraska. The States produce practically no softwood lumber. While under present conditions lumber is imported from the Northwest more cheaply than it could possibly be grown in these States, the cheap supply of that region will ultimately be exhausted. With the depletion of the natural timber supplies in the Lake States and the Northwest, the prairie States will eventually have great difficulty in obtaining lumber. Therefore a supply of lumber for the future is one object of forest planting in the sand hills. A more important consideration, however, is the question of a local timber supply in connection with the stock-raising and agri- cultural industries of the sand-hill regions themselves. A large part of the demand from ranches is for fence posts and unsawed timber for other improvements. Since the native cedar has been largely exhausted it has been necessary to purchase timber at dispropor- tionately high rates. While it can not be said that forests are needed in the sand-hill regions to conserve water, since the hills themselves are perfect reser- voirs and the streams all drain to the east, where water for irrigation is not at present needed, still the planting of forests in the sand hills will check the wind locally and generally it will prevent the further encroachment of the sand dunes on the fertile land to the east and will ameliorate the dryness of the atmosphere so that the agricultural land to the east may receive a greater amount of precipitation. Of these influences the local effects of groves of trees acting as wind- breaks will be felt first, and for this reason the planting of trees by local residents after the Government has thoroughly experimented with species and methods should be strongly encouraged. Forests should not only help to make tillable those soils which are already fertile by reducing the exposure to wind, but planted extensively on poor soils, they should ultimately make them fertile enough and should so change the physical composition of the soil that they may be tilled with safety. Extensive forests on rough land are for timber and for general climatic effect. The less extensive, which will be planted on rolling land, are directly to benefit agriculture through their local effects on wind and soil. » The Control of Blowing Soils, Farmers' Bulletin 421, U. S. Dept. of Agriculture. 20 FORESTATION, SAND HILLS NEBKASKA AND KANSAS. BEGINNINGS OF FOREST PLANTING IN THE SAND-HILL REGION. It is thought that the first suggestion that the Federal Govern- ment should plant forests in the sand hills of Nebraska came from Dr. Charles E. Bessey, of the University of Nebraska, about 1890. Before this time settlers had made plantings in the sand hills, as throughout Nebraska and the other Middle Western States, under the timber-culture act (1878-1891). This planting did little to justify the purpose of the act, which was to stimulate the cultivation of tim- ber in the treeless region, and almost without exception the planta- tions of hardwood trees failed because of drought, light soil, and lack of protection from cattle. About the only successful plantations were those made with cottonwood in the low, moist swales where farmsteads were established. Some of these plantations have attained good size and the trees have been of inestimable benefit in protecting the ranch buildings. In many cases these groves of cottonwood have furnished the only shelter for herds of cattle in the most severe winters. In 1891 the Federal Division of Forestry adopted Dr. Bessey 7s suggestion and established a small plantation of jack and Norway pines on the ranch of the Bruner brothers, in Holt County, 4 miles west of Swan, Nebr., with trees collected in the woods of Wisconsin. Other species used to a limited extent were Scotch, Austrian, and western yellow pines, Douglas fir, and arbor vitse. The yellow pine was obtained from a commercial nursery. These species were mostly used in such small numbers as to make no showing, and the only species that are at present worth considering in the plantation are the jack, western yellow, and Scotch pines. Of all the others less than 3 per cent survive. Most of the trees used in this plantation were about 3 years old and 8 inches in height. Reports made on the plantation in 1896 and 1903, which show the survival and condition of the trees of the three suc- cessful species, are summarized in Tables 5 and 6. TABLE 5. — Number of trees planted on Bruner brothers' ranch, in Holt County, Nebr., and number that survived. ! Species. Condition at lime of plant ing. Number planted. Oct. 1, 1896, trees living. Dec. 1, 1903, trees living. Number. Percent. Number. Per cent. Jack pine Fair 2,362 1,350 305 2,055 87 1,729 484 141 73 35 46 Scotch pine Poor to fair Yellow pine Good 21o9 45 1 From paper by Charles A. Scott, Nebraska Forestry and Park Association, January, 1904. 2 A few trees were probably overlooked, since later counts show a larger number alive. Jul. 1 21 , Forest Service, U. S. Dept, of Agriculture PLATE V. FIG. 1.— JACK PINE ON THE BRUNER PLANTATION 17 YEARS AFTER PLANTING, HOLT COUNTY, NEBR. FIG. 2.— THE FIRST PLANTING OF JACK PINE AT HALSEY WHEN THE PLANTATION WAS 4 YEARS OLD; NORTHEAST SLOPE FACING MIDDLE LOUP RIVER. Bui. 121, Forest Service, U. S. Dept. of Agriculture. PLATE VI. BEGINNINGS OF FOREST PLANTING. 21 TABLE 6. — Relative rate of growth of the three species of pines on Bruner Bros.' ranch up to 1903. 1 r Tallest height class. Middle height class. Shortest height class. Average height, all species 19.4 feet. 15 9 feet Average diameter, all species . 3 inches 2 1 inches j,ck pines Number. 614 Number. 806 Number. 309 Scotch pines 12 96 370 Western yellow, pines 0 21 120 1 From paper by Charles A. Scott, Nebraska Forestry and Park Association, January, 1904. From Tables 5 and 6 it is apparent that jack pine has far outstripped the other species in the percentage of survival and that it has made much better height growth, there being a relatively small proportion of the Scotch pine in the tallest class, and no yellow pine. Yet it is also noteworthy that Scotch pine made good height growth and that there was no loss among the yellow pines between the years 1896 and 1903. In other words, once fairly established, yellow pine is quite certain to persist, and there can be little doubt but that, in the course of time, it will outstrip the jack pine, since the latter is a species which never attains a height of more than about 60 feet except in the very best soils which it occupies in the Lake States. Scotch pine also, if the proper variety is planted, is un- doubtedly a good tree for sandy soils and for this climate. The conditions in this miniature forest are entirely different from those in the surrounding hills, showing that the trees are perma- nently established. The grass has been killed out, the ground is covered with a light coat of needles, and, best of all, young seedlings of jack pine have appeared from time to time, from seed dropped by the planted trees. This is clear evidence of the adaptability of the species to the climate and soil of the region. Another example of coniferous planting is the Charles Arter planta- tion of western yellow, or "bull" pine at Kirkwood, in the northern part of Rock County, Nebr. This plantation is just at the edge of the sand hills, and is not strictly in sand-hill soil, but rather in the heavier soil of the Arikaree formation as it appears on both sides of the lower Niobrara River. The plantation was made in the spring of 1893, with trees 12 to 20 inches high, obtained on the Niobrara River. The trees were planted 16 feet apart each way and were thoroughly cultivated for the first 10 years, after which care was taken to exclude stock and fire. The careful attention given this small grove doubtless explains in a large measure its phenomenal success. Very few of the trees died. In spite of the wide spacing of the trees the crowns now fully meet, and the trees have attained an average diameter at breast height of 9 inches. 22 FOKESTATION, SAND HILLS KEBKASKA AND KANSAS. The largest are about 12J, the smallest 6 inches in diameter. On a rough basis of calculation this plantation has had an increment of 85 cubic feet per acre per annum in the first 19 years of its existence. This represents remarkable productivity for a semiarid region. NATIONAL FORESTS ESTABLISHED. The success of this coniferous plantation of 1891 may be said to have formed the foundation for the establishment, in 1902, of the first National Forests, then known as forest reserves, in Nebraska. The Dismal River Reserve, lying between the Dismal and Middle Loup Rivers, comprised an area of 85,123 acres, and the Niobrara Reserve, lying between the Niobrara and Snake Rivers, comprised 123,779 acres. To these were added in 1906 the North Platte Re- serve, lying some distance north of the North Platte River and bounded on the north by the line of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad in the vicinity of Hyannis, Nebr. This area com- prised 347,170 acres. The total area of about 556,000 acres, which was combined in 1908 into the Nebraska National Forest, covers less than 5 per cent of the Nebraska sand hills, a large portion of which are still in the public domain. The similarity of the Nebraska and Kansas sand hills led to the belief that forests could be grown in the Kansas hills; there were, moreover, successful hardwood plantations there. One is imme- diately southwest of Garden City, where a plantation of black locust and cottonwood, made in 1894 and covering 10 acres, was partially cut in 1910, at the age of 16 years. The locust yielded a large num- ber of 15 and 20 foot telephone poles, and posts at the rate of 3 per tree. The stumps are now producing vigorous sprouts, which in two years have attained a height of 14 feet and will soon produce a second crop. With the idea that timber to supply local needs could be grown in the region the Garden City Forest Reserve was established in 1903, with an area of 97,280 acres. This was increased to 302,387 acres in 1908, when the name was changed to the Kansas National Forest. The area occupies a narrow strip of ground on the south side of the Arkansas River, from the west boundary of the State east to Garden City. NURSERIES ESTABLISHED. In the fall of 1902 the town of Halsey, Nebr., was selected as the headquarters of the Dismal River Reserve, and a small nursery was laid out beside the Middle Loup River, where the growing of jack and western yellow pine from seed was immediately begun. Since the spring of 1904, when the first seedlings became large enough for planting, this nursery has been increasing steadily in size and effi- THE SAND-HILL NURSERIES. 23 ciency, so that now the output is about 1,000,000 young trees a year. The trees have been very largely used in planting the hills immediately to the south of the nursery, but some have also been used on the North Platte division of the Forest. The work at this nursery is discussed elsewhere in this bulletin. Similarly, after the Halsey nursery had become established, a small nursery was started at Garden City in 1907. Because it was intended to grow hardwood seedlings this nursery was laid out on the north side of the Arkansas River, where the soil is heavy and rich, and well adapted to that purpose. However, conifers have proved more desirable for the Kansas Forest, and various steps have been taken to prepare a soil suited to that class of stock; finally, in 1911, a small branch nursery was established on the south side of the Arkansas River, where the soil is sandy. The success of this nursery has not yet been thoroughly established. In 1903 the area of the Halsey nursery was about one-half acre; in 1911 the combined areas of the Halsey and Garden City nurseries was more than 6 acres. THE SAND-HILL NURSERIES. The Halsey nursery was established in connection with the Nebraska planting work for the primary object of raising coniferous trees; that at Garden City was expected to produce mainly hardwood or broad-leafed trees for the Kansas planting. Hence, while the Garden City nursery has lately begun to produce conifers, it has not developed far in that direction, and it is probable that, with a new nursery in sandy soil, the nursery practice of the future will be much the same as at Halsey. GAKDEN CITY NURSERY. The Garden City nursery was on the north side of the Arkansas River, about 2 miles west of Garden City, and on leased land, since there was nothing but very sandy land within the Forest on the south side of the river. The situation is not more than 15 feet above the present river bed, and the soil is described as " Laurel loam," 1 a rather heavy, dark- brown loam, becoming lighter in color with depth. In some places the proportion of sand is rather large. The subsoil is much more sandy and gravelly than the topsoil. Pure sand is sometimes encountered at a depth of from 30 to 36 inches, and gravel nearly always at from 3 to 6 feet. The soil is made up of material deposited by inundations of the river and by silt and clay washed in from 1 For this and subseauent data on the soil of the Garden City nursery, see Soil Survey of the Garden City Area, Bureau of Soils, U. S. Dept. of Agriculture, 1905. 24 FORESTATION, SAND HILLS NEBRASKA AND KANSAS. the adjoining uplands.1 It works rather stiff, is difficult to put in good tilth, and bakes after irrigating. Nevertheless, it is probably the richest soil in the entire Arkansas Valley. In preparing this ground for the seed of hardwood trees, of which black and honey locusts, osage orange, ash, catalpa, walnut, and cettonwood have been the principal species, it is first plowed very deep and harrowed, then leveled, then marked for rows. Drills about 4 inches deep are then gouged out and run full of water, which is allowed to soak the soil for about one day before seed is sown. After the sowing the drill is filled with 1 to 2 inches of soil, depending on the size of the seed, and as soon as possible the soil is cultivated. One or more irrigations may be necessary before the seed germinates, but the soil is retentive of moisture if properly cultivated, and, usually, water has been applied only a few times during a season. While the rows are 30 inches apart to permit the use of a 1 -horse cultivator, there are from 1 to 15 trees per linear foot in the row. They develop very rapidly, and, in the fall of 1911, were mostly taken up, pruned, and heeled in for the 1912 planting. This practice permits the earliest possible planting when the ground thaws in the spring. The size of seedlings of various species after one year, is as follows : Inches. Black locust 27 Honey locust 16 Green ash 7 Box elder 24 Because the soil is so heavy it is necessary, in preparing for conifers, to introduce some sand and to raise the beds above the surrounding ground to facilitate drainage. At first, watering was done by sprink- ling and surface irrigation, but in 1911 a system of subirrigation, using concrete tiles, was successfully introduced. A line of tile waters two lines of beds, each 4 feet wide. The water supply is obtained at no great depth and is pumped by windmill and gasoline engine into a storage basin. It has also been necessary, in order to protect from birds and rodents, to use Pettis 2 frames very largely. These are simply wooden i Mechanical analysis of soil of same character, obtained just east of Garden City, showed the following proportions of different-sized particles : Inches. Osage orange 20 Catalpa 16 Black walnut.. 10 Stratum. Fine gravel. Coarse sand. Medium sand. Fine sand. Very fine sand. Silt. Clay. Soil Per cent. 1 0 Per cent. 2. 8 Per cent. 4. 2 Per cent. 9.2 Per cent. 20.8 Per cent. 33.0 Per cent. 28.8 Subsoil 2. 6 10 5 18.4 28. 1 16.2 13.9 10.3 'See Forest Service Bulletin No. 76, "How to Grow and Plant Conifers in the Northeastern States," by C. R. Pettis. THE SAND-HILL NURSERIES. 25 frames, 18 inches high, which completely cover the seed beds, with the sides and tops covered with |-inch mesh wire netting. Except for these three things — the use of sand, of raised beds, and of frames, the handling of coniferous stock is much the same as at the Halsey nursery. HALSEY NURSERY. LOCATION. Although the Dismal River and Niobrara Forest Reserves were created at the same time, in 1902, the first named offered the greater inducement for planting, because of its nearness to the railroad and because of the poorer quality of its lands. The Niobrara reserve was 12 miles from the nearest railroad point. The Halsey nursery was established 2 miles west of Halsey, which is 48 miles northwest of Broken Bow and 200 miles from Lincoln. It was placed on the south side of the Middle Loup River, for protection from fire which might originate from locomotives. The Middle Loup is a large stream for the region and gives an abundant water supply at all seasons. The nursery covers 5 acres on a second bench above the river at an elevation of 8 feet above the stream. The bench is 250 feet wide at this point, and at points above and below it is much wider. The ground desired for nursery purposes, like most of the second bottom of the Loup, was covered with a dense but not continuous thicket of plum and cherry brush. Since it was necessary to have perfectly workable soil, this brush was cleared, and all roots were taken out, though at considerable expense. SOIL AND MOISTURE. The presence of the shrubby, humus-making cover had built up a good nursery soil. The bench had evidently been deposited by the river when it last changed its bed and consists of almost pure sand, with enough humus to make it dark gray in color to a depth of 10 to 20 inches. Below this depth it changes rapidly to a white, coarse sand with occasional gravel. Were it not for the nearness of the water table this soil would doubtless be quite arid, since the subsoil is too coarse to hold water or to transmit it readily to a dry surface. While deep-rooted plants can reach the water, this fact is of no value to tree seedlings, because the effort is made to curtail deep-root development in the nursery. The problem of watering the nursery ground has never been difficult. At the outset sufficient water was easily pumped by a windmill for nursery as well as domestic use. It was stored in a cement-lined reservoir and distributed to the houses and to all parts of the nursery through 2 -inch mains. Later, however, with a larger area under 63519°— Bull. 121—13 4 26 FORESTATION, SAND HILLS NEBRASKA AND KANSAS. cultivation and the need for irrigation clearly shown, it has been necessary to pump directly from the river. A 5-horsepower gasoline engine does the work, and most of the water is pumped direct into ditches, with only a small reserve supply for emergencies. This river water, especially in the spring when it carries considerable silt, as compared with clean well water, has a value in maintaining the fertility of the nursery soil. It is also warmer than the well water. With irrigating a great deal of leveling had to be done, and this, together with deep plowing, has in most places mixed the soil and subsoil to a depth of 20 or 30 inches. While the need of watering depends on the weather, it is greatly increased by the extremely porous nature of the »ubsoil. Frequent applications are necessary, especially at midsummer and in crowded beds, where seedlings are badly blighted as soon as the moisture runs low. In dry, hot weather as much as 2 inches per week may be used. Originally all watering was done with hose and spray; later the beds of larger trees were irrigated by flooding; now even the seed beds are usually flooded before the seeds germinate. Water will not stand on the surface for an appreciable length of tune, so there is no danger of drowning young plants, and it is unnecessary to elevate the beds for drainage. There is a danger of excessive watering, which consists in developing plants which, when set out, will not be able to withstand the drought conditions of the sand hills. It is true that the proportion of loss in the field does increase with the quantity of water given the trees in the nursery/ but, on the other hand, watering greatly reduces losses in the nursery. Hence it can not be said, without further experimentation, that it should be abandoned or materially decreased. This matter is now the subject of careful investigation. i The results of an experiment begun in 1910, when 1,000 transplants were watered in different manners and continued in 1911, when 500 survivors of each lot were planted in the field, are as follows: Frequency of watering. Average quantity per week. Trans- plants sur- viving in nursery, 1910. Trees sur- viving in field, 1911. Final survival. Xone Inches. None. Per cent. 67.9 Per cent. 75.2 Per cent. 51.06 Biweekly 1.00 58.8 73.2 43.04 Daily 1.75 63.9 71.8 45.88 Weekly 2 00 68 0 65. 4 44.37 The "final survival " is the product of the percentages of survival in field and nursery. This test, which appears conclusive, ought to be repeated before it can be said that the disadvantages of watering are thoroughly proved. NURSERY OPERATIONS. 27 NURSERY OPERATIONS. FERTILIZING. Although the soil of the nursery at first appeared to be abundantly fertile to support a good stand of small trees, its virgin fertility has been dissipated, first, by the mixing of the surface soil with the sterile subsoil; second, by watering, which has doubtless washed out a good deal of the mineral fertility; and third, by the action of the wind, which has to some extent moved the surface soil about. Within two or three years the lack of humus in the soil began to be felt, but it was not until 1908 that the use of manure for fertilizing was begun on a la'rge scale. Prior to this time some experiments had been made with commerical fertilizers, such as dried blood, bone meal, and phosphate, but these had had no appreciable effect; possibly because they were quickly washed out of the sandy soil, more likely because they did not change its physical composition. Leaf compost has some advantage over manure, but is not obtainable at Halsey in large quantities. The effects of the lack of fertility, and more particularly of the lack of water-holding material in the surface soil, showed in several ways: The trees were small and slender; the roots ramified to great distances in order to obtain sufficient moisture and nutriment, and, in hot, dry weather, as a direct result of insufficient moisture, the trees were blighted. It was the physical composition of the soil that most affected tree growth. An analysis of the soil from a number of nursery beds, made at the University of Nebraska in 1905, showed that growth of the seedlings was but little influenced by the small quantity of humus in the soil, but that it was very directly controlled by the quantity of moisture-retentive clay.1 The object in using manure, therefore, is not so much to add to the quantity of plant food, which may or may not be deficient, as to increase the water-holding capacity of the soil by changing its physical composition. A small quantity of clay would doubtless have about the same effect, and would be of considerable value if it could be placed entirely below the depth of cultivation, but experience has shown that clay in the surface soil increases the difficulty of handling the trees. The extensive use of clay, therefore, has not seemed advisable. This matter, however, will be experimented with further. The proper quantity of manure to use depends, of course, on its state of decomposition and the length of time that the soil has been in use. At Halsey it has been the practice, when space would per- mit, to grow trees on the ground for one or two years, then to manure 1 Good growth was found where the percentage of alumina was from 2.05 to 2.76, and poor growth where the percentage was from 0.76 to 1.01. In the sand hills a sample showed 0.84 per cent of alumina. 28 FORESTATION, SAND HILLS NEBRASKA AND KANSAS. it with from 50 to 120 tons per acre and grow a soiling crop upon it for one season. The soiling crop, of course, not only nitrifies the soil, but breaks down the manure to a more usable form. Where seed must be sown on ground freshly manured there is the possibility that an excess1 of manure will cause the soil to dry out or that the plants will "burn" or will suffer from parasites. This latter danger, however, is not necessarily a result of fresh manure. No damage seems to have resulted from using manure just before transplanting. Cow manure free from straw is the most easily prepared for use, and is the least likely to cause drying of the soil. It is obtained mainly from feeding yards, and after being broken up may be applied directly to the nursery soil. Horse manure is invariably mixed with straw, and is not used until it has composted for a year with sand, during which time it is turned two or three times and watered as often as necessary to prevent heating. There is marked benefit from the use of stable manure followed by cowpeas as a soiling crop. In 1910 one bed which had had both manure and a soiling crop the previous year, and one which had only the soiling crop, were sown side by side. At the end of the first season the seedlings grown in the manured bed were from 1 to 2 inches taller than the others, and the difference still existed at the end of the second year in these beds. The sharply-defined increase in the average size of plants since manure began to be used is also clear evidence of the need for it in the sandy nursery soil, as shown in Table 7. TABLE 7. — Average sizes of 2 -year-old seedlings at the end of various years. Year. Height. Jack pine. Yellow pine. 1906 Inches. 3.9 3.7 8.0 7.5 Inches. 4.0 3.5 5.0 6.0 1907 1910 1911 The aggregate benefits of the fertilizers show in the more stocky character of the transplants as they now become ready for field plant- ing. For example, the 1909 3-year-old yellow pine, transplanted after two years in the seed bed (2-1), were from 5 to 7 inches high and had, on the average, about four strong roots, from 14 to 16 inches 1 This is especially damaging to young seedlings, which may not be watered as heavily as transplants. The exact quantity of manure which may safely be used on seed beds directly or shortly before seeding is now being carefully investigated. Should it be found that enough manure to keep the soil in good con- dition and to produce strong plants can not be used, biennial fertilizing and rotation between transplants and seedlings will probably be necessary because of the restricted area of the nursery. NURSERY OPERATIONS. 29 long. Those used in 1912 were about 5 inches high and had, on the average, at least eight roots, seldom more than 12 inches long. These facts tend to show that better nourished, and hence more vigorous trees, are being produced by the use of manures. The more numerous roots, confined to a smaller space, are likely to increase the success of field planting, because, while deep roots are desirable, they can not be handled without damage, and a few long roots are less likely to secure soil moisture for the tree than many short ones. It is probable, also, that the greater size attained by trees in the enriched soil will also reduce from three years to two years the time required in the nursery. This practically reduces the costs by one- third and proportionately increases the capacity of the nursery. SEED SOWING. Seed beds are established each year where the ground has been well fertilized the previous year and, when possible, where a soiling crop has been grown in addition. After the ground has been graded so as to be irrigable from a single ditch it is flooded for settling and then staked out in beds 4 feet wide, with 20-inch paths between. The beds are grouped in sections. Each section is about 50 feet wide east and west and about 160 feet long north and south. The sec- tions are separated from one another by 5-foot windbreak fences designed particularly to check the winds from the west and north- west. In some places willows and other trees have been planted to take the place of the fence windbreaks, but as space in the nursery is becoming more and more precious, the wisdom of such planting seems doubtful. The surface of the beds is very carefully smoothed and firmed, in order that the seeds may all be covered equally. Before sowing the seed is coated with red lead to make it unattrac- tive to birds and rodents. Red lead is effective for small seed, but is less so with larger sizes. However, seed destruction seems to become less common each year. The seed is sown broadcast in sufficient quantity to make about 125 seedlings to the square foot. The quality of the seed, number of seed per pound, and expected losses affect, of course, the quantity used. One pound of yellow pine may be enough for from 30 to 60 square feet of bed, while one pound of Norway or Scotch pine seed may cover 100 square feet. As soon as it is sown the seed is covered as evenly as possible by sifting soil over it from a plasterer's sieve to a depth of from one-eighth to one-fourth inch. A light watering follows this covering, and if any seeds are uncovered by this sprinkling more soil is sifted onto them. As soon as a bed has been sown it is completely covered with burlap, pegged down at the edges of the bed, so as to be in close contact with the soil. This acts as a mulch to prevent drying of the surface soil 30 FORESTATION, SAND HILLS NEBRASKA AND KANSAS. and blowing out of the seed and insures the seed an equable supply of moisture, so that germination is rapid and even over the entire bed. Before germination shade frames allowing them only one-half of full sunlight are placed over the beds. These frames consist sim- ply of long strips of slat or lath fencing rolled out on a pair of hori- zontal bars which are parallel with the sides of the bed and extend its entire length. These frames, not permanently fixed, and easily rolled up, are much more convenient than permanent high shade frames, because they do not interfere with plowing and grading and may easily be rolled back in the event of particularly cloudy weather. Since they are from 22 to 24 inches high, they do not have to be rolled back for weeding, as all of the 4-foot beds can be reached from the sides. Broadcast seeding supplanted drill seeding in the Halsey nursery in 1909, when an attempt was made to increase the productiveness of the ground. Drill-sown seed germinates more slowly, but usually in the end more completely. The method, therefore, is more economi- cal of seed and has the further advantage of making weeding easier and of making cultivation possible. Broadcast seeding has the advantage where space is at a premium, because from 125 to 200 seedlings may be grown per square foot where all of the ground is occupied as against 60 to 100 in drills. With plenty of water culti- vation of seed beds is unnecessary. The time required for germination depends largely on the weather. Germination is much slower in early spring than at midsummer, and too much water retards germination by cooling the soil. The most rapid germination ever recorded at Halsey was six days for yellow pine, in midsummer. In the unusually cool spring of 1912 yellow pine took 22 days; Scotch pine, 24 days; jack pine, 29 days; and Norway pine, 40 days. Practically all seed sowing has been done at Halsey in the spring, or just as soon as possible after the early field planting, transplanting, and preparation of the ground. Frequently seed sowing has not been completed before June 15, though it is quite certain that the earlier seeding produces the larger plants by the end of the season. Very early seeding, however, subjects the plants to more danger from damping off. Exhaustive experiments with fall seeding have not yet been made, but it seems to have good possibilities for both the Halsey and Garden City nurseries. Fall seeding of 1911, at Halsey, germinated just one month ahead of the earliest spring seeding of 1912, which could not be done until April 29. Should it prove as effective as it promises fall seeding will doubtless be adopted to relieve the work of the spring season and give the plants the longer growing season. The advantages and disadvantages of various seasons for seeding are now being determined. NURSERY OPERATIONS. 31 CARE OF SEED BEDS. During and after germination the surfaces of the beds are kept quite constantly moist. Formerly new seed beds were sprinkled once or twice each day, now all watering is done by flooding. The beds are weeded early in the season, because if weeds attain large size seedlings are almost certain to be damaged when the weeds are pulled. In broadcasted beds only hand weeding is possible. When seed was sown in drills it was possible to cultivate between the rows and to some extent remove weeds with a narrow rake. The greatest danger to young seedlings is from the disease known as "damping off/' which results from the attack of any one of several fungi, which enter the seed as soon as the coat is cracked in germina- tion. Many seedlings are killed before they push above the ground, while all are subject to attack until several weeks old. The small and comparatively weak seedlings of jack, Norway, and Scotch pine are more susceptible to damping off than those of western yellow pine. At Garden City, where damping off has been even more serious than at Halsey, Austrian pine suffered more than any other species, while Corsican pine was practically immune. This disease has been the subject of a great deal of study, but it appears that at Halsey it may best be controlled by treating the soil at the time of seed sowing with a solution of sulphuric acid, consisting of three-fourths fluid ounce of the acid in a gallon of water, applied at the rate of one quart per square foot. All the soil, both below and above the seeds, must be treated and the beds must be watered quite frequently until germination is complete, in order that the solution may not become concentrated. The treatment may injure some seedlings, but it effectively prevents the disease, and the loss from the acid is incon- sequental as compared with the loss from damping off. This acid treatment is not recommended for a different soil, but all of the com- mon preventives, such as dry and sterilized sand on the surface of the beds, and sowing at various seasons, have failed entirely, so that, if this treatment is effective elsewhere, it will greatly simplify the nursery procedure. ,The shade frames are kept over the seed beds during the entire first year, and many seedlings which otherwise would die from overheating or drought are saved. It seems probable that losses which were formerly supposed to be due to damping off are nothing more than the effects of drought. The shade frames make the moisture more equable and at least reduce the frequency of watering. The size of seedlings at the end of the first season is shown in Table 8. 32 FORESTATION, SAND HILLS NEBRASKA AND KANSAS. TABLE 8. — Height of seedlings at the end of the first season. Species. Height. Western yellow pine Inches. 1 to 5 Austrian pine Ito2 1 to 5 Norway pine \ to 1 Scotch pine 1 to 4 Until 1911 practically all transplanting was done with seedlings which had been two years in the original seed bed and were then retained in the transplant beds one year, making what is called a "2-1 transplant." Occasionally, trees have been transplanted at one year and kept in the transplant beds two years more; these are designated "1-2 transplants. " Trees kept in seed beds two years require watering about once each week; yet, in spite of this generous use of water, it has not been possible wholly to prevent blight, due to insufficient moisture, or to prevent stunting, due to overcrowding. When blight occurs it can be accounted for only 'by the inability of the roots to take up the moisture as fast as it evaporates from the leaves. With greater root space this difficulty would probably be obviated. In general, shade frames were not used on second-year seed beds, but recent experiments where they have been used have shown that losses may be reduced. The whole question of the proper regulation of the shade will stand further investigation. The longer the regular shading is continued in the seed beds, the greater the losses in the transplant beds. This has been proved by experi- ments begun in 1911, which show that the extent of loss at any time from removing shade frames is about proportional to the length of time that the trees have been under shade. This points to the advisability of gradually reducing the quantity of shade and thereby hardening the trees. TRANSPLANTING. The first transplanting at Halsey was done in 1906, with the object of developing a more compact root system; that is, shorter and more numerous roots. The success of these first transplants in the field in 1907 was so great that practically no seedlings have been planted directly in the field since that time. Practically all transplants have been "2-1," or three years old from seed when used in the field after two years in the seed bed and one year in the transplant bed. Experi- ments with both younger and older stock showed this to be the best and most convenient size from all standpoints. However, progress in developing large trees from seed had been so good by 1911 that in that year 1-year seedlings were transplanted, and these, in turn, were planted out in 1912. Bui. 121, Forest Service, U. S. Dept. of Agriculture. PLATE VII. FIQ. 1.— MAKING THE FIRST TRANSPLANT BED OF JACK PINE AT HALSEY IN 1906. FIG. 2.— TRANSPLANT BEDS OF JACK PINE AT HALSEY IN 1912. Much more economical of space than those shown in figure 1. Shelter fences and willow- hedge windbreaks. Bui. 121, Forest Service, U. S. Dept. of Agriculture. PLATE VIII. FIG. 1.— DIGGING SEEDLINGS WITH TREE DIGGER, 1908. Seedlings temporarily heeled-in on the right. FIG. 2.— DIGGING SEEDLINGS WITH SPADES, 1910. The seedlings are carefully packed in baskets between layers of wet burlap. NUBSERY OPERATIONS. 33 Ground for transplant beds is prepared much the same as for seed beds, except that it may have been freshly fertilized. It is deeply plowed and carefully leveled, but the beds are 6 feet wide, with 20-inch paths between, instead of 4 feet, as in the seed beds. Paths and beds are on the same level. Seedlings are dug from their beds with spades. The Feigley tree digger has been tried at Halsey, and while it is cheap and effective for lifting seedlings, it has not always been possible to use it because of the scarcity of work horses. The contrivance does nothing more than lift the entire body of soil in which the roots are located and drop it again, thereby loosening the mass so that the trees are pulled out without much loss of fine roots. It is simply a horizontal, sharp- edged wedge which is run under the trees at any necessary depth down to about 12 inches, taking a strip about 1 foot wide for the entire length of the seed bed. Its disadvantages are that it is diffi- cult to guide accurately, and hence may come too near the surface and cut off the roots too closely. In so far as it cuts merely the tips of the roots it probably does no damage, since root pruning, while not practiced at Halsey, has been used a great deal elsewhere. The digger also loosens the soil to such an extent that the trees must all be taken up very quickly, and since its economic rate of operation is considerably faster than transplanting, some extra labor is required to heel in the seedlings temporarily. Yet with these disadvantages it undoubtedly effects a saving in the cost of transplanting. After being loosened with the spade the seedlings are lifted, and the main body of soil shaken from the roots, frreat care is taken, how- ever, to make sure that the fine soil particles are left adhering to the roots and that the finer roots are not broken. Formerly it was the practice to transport trees, not only between the nursery and field, but within the nursery, in buckets or tubs of water. This not only washed all soil from the roots, but also washed off the fine rootlets. At present trees are placed, even for short transportation, in baskets or boxes lined with burlap and moss. They are thus kept constantly moist, but are not washed. If seedlings can not be used at once in the transplant beds they are heeled in; that is, placed with their roots in a layer against the wall of a trench, which is then filled. If the seedlings are to be heeled in for some time their tops are covered with a mulch of straw. The transplant crew consists of five men; two of them " thread" seedlings, one makes trenches, and the other two plant the trees in the trenches. The threading process consists in fitting the seedlings into notches on a " transplant board." The board1 is 6 feet 3 inches long, with notches 1 or 1J inches apart and J-inch or more 1 Full description of this board, the threading table, trencher, and tamper may be found in Forestry Quarterly, vol. X, no. 1, March, 1912. 34 FORESTATION, SAND HILLS NEBKASKA AND KANSAS. wide, according to the spacing desired and the size of the stems to be fitted into the notches. When all notches have been filled with seedlings the latter are held in place by a thin strip of wood fastened over the stems. The threading is all done on tables, which have shields to protect the trees from the drying wind. The trenches are made with a special tool, which has a heavy blade 26 inches long and 7 inches wide, and a handle. It is handled as a heavy spade would be in heavy soil; the weight of the worker is thrown on its upper edge, while the handle is moved back and forth and the blade worked into the soil, to a depth of from 6 to 10 inches, depending on the length of the roots of the seedlings. The transplant board is placed on the edge of the trench thus made, with the roots of all the seedlings hanging in the opening. The two men engaged in planting then break in the walls of the trench with a tamp which packs the soil against the roots. When this has been partly completed the transplant board is taken away, and the earth is brought up to the level of the surrounding ground. The trenches may be 5 or more inches apart, according to the space desired between rows in the transplant beds. The crew of five men may transplant 20,000 2-year seedlings per day or 16,000 1-year seedlings. The latter are more difficult to handle because they are smaller. For this reason it is doubtful that 1-1 transplants of such species as Norway pine are as cheap as older ones. Not only is a greater time required for transplanting, but some trees will be lost by being covered with soil at the time of transplanting or later. However, some economy for the nursery as a whole will have been gained if the plan of closer spacing, tried in 1912, is successful. A spacing of 1 by 5 inches was used experimentally for 1-year seed- lings, while in the past, with 2-year seedlings, 1J by 6 inches has seemed necessary. Transplant beds are weeded and watered as carefully as seed beds. In addition, they are cultivated after each watering, a 2-toothed rake being used to scratch between the rows. Shade has not been used on transplant beds and probably will not be unless it is found neces- sary as a part of a gradual hardening process by which the water supply will be reduced somewhat, and the trees are given a very light shade. A year in the transplant beds does not materially increase the height of most species, but makes them much sturdier. Thus a 2-year seedling is taller and much more slender than a 1-1 transplant if given equal opportunities for growth. The transplant, however, has a much better proportion of roots to top. The breaking of the longer roots at the tune of transplanting seems to have the effect of stimulating the growth of a number of short roots, just as damage to the leader of a tree's stem will induce the growth of a number of branches. FIELD PLANTING. 35 While the average of yellow pine and jack pine 1-1 transplants are large enough for field planting, it may be necessary at the time of transplanting to separate the smallest of the seedlings and to give these two years in the transplant beds. The largest of the transplants are not so well proportioned as to tops and roots as the medium-sized ones and hence are less valuable for planting. The ideal tree for sand-hill planting has roots at least one-half longer than the top. DIGGING AND PACKING. Trees are removed from the transplant beds in the same manner as from seed beds, except that they are spaded up a row at a time, and as many of the long roots as possible are saved. As soon as they are loosened from the soil the trees are packed in planting baskets, in which there are several double layers of burlap padded with moss. Between each two layers a comparatively thin layer of trees is placed, so that, without making the pads very wet, all of the roots may be kept moist. By retaining the fine soil which naturaUy adheres to the rootlets a closer contact between the roots and the new soil of the hills is assured. For shipping, trees are now always packed in slatted crates. The roots are all placed at the center of the crate, with abundance of moss between layers, and the tops point outward and are freely aerated. This practically prevents any heating, and the only thing to be feared is the lack of moisture as a result of delayed shipments. FIELD PLANTING. SPECIES. SPECIES FOR THE NEBRASKA SAND HILLS. Following the establishment of the station and nursery at Halsey, in the fall of 1902, some jack pine was immediately planted. This species was selected because of its well-known adaptability to the sandy soils of the Lake States, and the success attained with it on the Bruner l plantation. Experience has shown that the first choice was a wise one. Some 70,000 seedlings were pulled in the forests of Minnesota and planted at Halsey in the spring of 1903. Of this number 15 or 20 per cent were living three years later. The trees were from 2 to 5 years old when planted, and it is probable that a greater degree of success would have been attained if only the younger ones had been used. As it is, the survivors of this group are now the leaders of the entire plantation. In nine years they have attained heights of from 6 to 1 1 feet. At the same time, 30,000 forest-pulled seedlings of western yellow pine, from the Black Hills, were planted. These failed entirely, and 1 Four miles west of Swan, Holt County, Nebr. 36 FORESTATION, SAND HILLS NEBRASKA AND KANSAS. the same fate befell extensive broadcast sowings of red cedar, jack pine, western yellow pine, and Colorado blue spruce. . The first planting of the nursery-grown yellow pine in 1904 was partially successful, in spite of the very difficult sites which were selected. One-year-old seedlings planted in 1905, on steep, cool, moist, north slopes, have succeeded, though for several years it seemed a question whether they would rear their heads above the grass. Western yellow pine is slow in gaining a foothold, and small trees may not make any appreciable growth for two or three years, yet they will retain life. Then, if the roots have succeeded in making a place for themselves in spite of the grass, vigorous growth begins. Jack pine, on the other hand, always establishes itself quickly and soon obtains enough root and crown space to give it an advantage over the native vegetation in the struggle for moisture and light. By 1906 jack pine and western yellow pine had proved their worth. While no other species had been so thoroughly tested, Douglas fir, blue spruce, and other trees from the upper slopes of the Rockies had been tried in the nursery and, because of the little success in growing them from seed, they were abandoned. Scotch pine was first planted in 1907. The plantation was on the gentle north slope which bore a heavy stand of bunch grass and was not very successful; but the persistence of some of the trees, which were of imported stock, clearly indicated the value of the tree for sand-hill planting. In 1908 and 1909 this species was tried again with stock grown at Halsey, and each year promised greater success. Austrian pine was first tried in 1909 with seedlings brought from the east. It did not then, and has not since, shown any qualities that fit it for sand-hill planting. Possibly this is because all stock so far used has come from more humid regions. While the seedlings show great vitality and ability to resist drought, they are, even more than yellow pine, slow to gain a foothold. Norway pine, a tree of the sandy soils of the Lake States, was tried on a small scale in 1909, and more extensively in 1910, with Halsey grown stock. The 1910 plantation on north slopes was very successful, and the trees are now making rapid growth. An effort was made, in 1909, to systematize the arrangement of species in accordance with topographic features. Four sites are recognized — ridge, south slope, bottom, and north slope. The char- acteristics of the four main sites and the reasons for planting certain species on them are as follows: (1) The ridge type has a very sandy soil, is most exposed to wind, bears the lightest vegetation, and has a low but very even moisture supply. Yellow pine seems best adapted to the ridges, because experiment has shown that it does not suffer from summer winds. The evenness of the moisture supply favors the slow-growing seed- FIELD PLANTING. 37 lings, because some moisture is available, even after other sites have become dry. (2) The south slope is the warmest of the sites, because it receives the direct rays of the sun. The soil is usually a loose sand, very insecurely held by vegetation. The snow drifts to these slopes more than to any others, so that moisture conditions are good in the spring. Jack pine grows well here, because it starts earliest in the spring and is able to get established before the moisture is dissipated. (3) The bottom type has the heaviest soil and bears the heaviest vegetation, so that, although it collects some moisture from the slopes, this is soon lost unless the vegetative growth can be checked. Yellow pine succeeds well if planted in wide, shallow furrows. The problem of obtaining success here without too great expense in the preparation of the ground is one of the most difficult yet to be solved. On the whole, the reason for planting yellow pine rather than any other species is that the tree, if it succeeds at all, is capable of making the best use of the fertile soil and can stand the heat. If Austrian pine should be planted at all, this is the best site. Of the hardwoods, green ash would doubtless succeed if it could be kept free from borers. (4) The north-slope type is cool and moist, but usually carries a heavy cover of grasses and shrubs, and, not infrequently, belts of sand- hill willows where there is an imperceptible seepage from the soil. This site presents the least difficulty in planting. Almost any species is assured of a favorable start, and here yellow pine makes its most rapid growth. However, frost leaves the ground late, and since the soil is constantly cool it has been thought that a species demanding less heat might outstrip the yellow pine. Scotch pine, because of its northerly origin and known adaptability to coolness and moisture, has been chosen for this site. Its height growth in the past three years has considerably exceeded that of yellow pine. Norway pine, with characteristics similar to those of Scotch pine, has not been thoroughly tried on north slopes, but from present indications will have a place there if it can be successfully grown in the nursery. Generally speaking, however, these distinctions as to site are mat- ters of convenience rather than of necessity. Except that jack pine is by far the best tree for south slopes and that Scotch pine has suc- ceeded only on north slopes, it should be understood that the species may be planted where it is most convenient. SPECIES FOR THE KANSAS SAND HILLS. The conclusions as to the adaptability of various species to the Kansas sand hills are not as definite as those for Nebraska. In the first place, the planting there has been in progress for a much shorter time. 38 FORESTATION, SAND HILLS KEBEASKA AND KANSAS. Planting was begun in the spring of 1906, with 2-year seedlings of yellow pine and 1-year seedlings of honey locust, osage orange; Rus- sian mulberry, and red cedar. Twenty-seven per cent of the yellow pine and 32 per cent of the honey locust survived the first season, but the other species failed. A number of these first yellow pines still persist and give clear evidence of having established themselves permanently, though they are so scattered that their struggle with native vegetation has been continuous, and they have, therefore, attained a height of only about 2 feet. Various experiments have been made with black locust, green ash, elm, and jack pine. Up to 1911 it appeared that the hardwoods held greater promise than the conifers, because of the greater ease with which they could be grown in the nursery, the smaller degree of care required in handling, and their more rapid establishment in the soil. However, an extreme drought in 1911 killed all but the most resistant of the newly planted trees. On the basis of these drought conditions the various species may be classified as reliable or unreliable, the trees in each group being named in the order of their value: Reliable species. Unreliable species. 1. Green ash. 1. Jack pine. 2. Yellow pine. 2 Black locust. 3. Honey locust. 3. Cotton wood. 4. Red cedar. 4. Osage orange. American elm.1 5. Hardy catalpa. Austrian pine.2 Only one hardwood, green ash, made a showing equal to that of yellow pine. Because there are no distinct ridges and valleys in the Kansas sand hills, the division of the planting area into types does not seem practicable. In general, however, the hardwoods should be planted in the lower ground where the soil is heaviest, and the conifers in the lighter soil of the high ground. In the area now being planted even this differentiation is neither practicable nor necessary. The one striking feature of the planting in Kansas is the failure of jack pine. This may be attributed partly to damage by rodents, but is in a large measure due to the greater warmth of the region as com- pared with Nebraska, the more extreme drought conditions which may prevail, and the greater severity of the summer winds. Jack pine evidently does not resist these influences. Green ash, among the hardwoods, and yellow pine, among conifers, have shown, on the other hand, the most surprising resistance. Green ash survived the summer of 1911, even after most of the leaves had been completely desiccated. 1 Not yet tried in field planting. Value assumed from general knowledge. 2 Not yet tried with stock of suitable size. Exact value not determined. FIELD PLANTING. 39 KIND OF STOCK. CONIFERS. As already stated, the first planting of conifers at Halsey was with forest-pulled seedlings, which have never been successful except under the most favorable climatic conditions. The next planting was with 1 and 2 year old seedlings grown in the local nursery. These were obviously too small; there were not enough roots, and these were too long to be handled conveniently. The trees succeeded only in the most favorable situations, north slopes. However, the use of 2-year seedlings was continued through 1906, when the percentage of success on east and south exposures was from 18 to 41, and on northerly exposures from 50 to 68. Steady improvement ensued from the first use of transplants, in 1907. Tables 9 and 10 show the results of experimental planting in 1909, in which stock of various ages was used, and indicate the causes of earlier failures. TABLE 9. — Survival and growth of yellow pine of various ages, in bottom type. Age and treatment. Proportion of thrifty trees left. Average height, fall, 1911. Average current growth, season of 1911. 1909 1910 1911 Per cent. 88 82 50 Per cent. 73 76 46 Per cent. 69 36 Inches. 7.7 7.1 5.5 Inches. 1.9 2.1 1.5 2 1 transplants 1 1 transplants TABLE 10. — Survival and growth of Scotch pine of various ages, on north slope. Age and treatment. Proportion of thrifty trees left. Average height, fall, 1911. Average current growth, season of 1911. 1909 1910 1911 2-1 transplants Per cent. 81 63 7 Per cent. 69 53, Per cent. 65 3|i Inches. 12.0 7.9 10.3 Inches. 3.4 2.4 2.3 1 1 transplants 2- year seedlings From these tables it is apparent that the 2-1 transplants are to be preferred as against the younger or untransplanted stock. While the oldest yellow pines give slightly better results, it is thought that this will not be apparent after two more years; moreover, their addi- tional cost precludes their use. The use of 1-year seedlings such as have proved fairly successful, under favorable climatic conditions, in the white-pine planting in the East, is wholly out of the question. In the past, three years have been required at Halsey for the devel- opment of a suitable plant, but it is now thought that two years will 40 FORESTATION, SAND HILLS NEBRASKA AND KANSAS. suffice because of the steady improvement of the soil through ferti- lizing and because of the unstinted use of water. In Kansas, how- ever, it is possible that none of less age or less perfect root develop- ment than the 2-1 transplants can be used profitably. Even older stock may prove cheapest in the end, but this matter has not had a conclusive test. HARDWOODS. Practically all hardwoods used in both Nebraska and Kansas have been grown in the nursery only one year. The soil of the Garden City nursery produces such vigorous growth that even the 1-year seedlings of the locusts have to be pruned on both the stems and roots for convenient handling. It would be impracticable to use older seedlings, and, because the roots sprout readily in the field, it is wholly unnecessaiy to transplant hardwoods in the nursery for root development. METHODS OF PLANTING. Four methods of planting have been tried successively in both the Nebraska and Kansas sand hills. These are the "slit," "square- hole/' "cone," and " trencher" methods. THE SLIT METHOD. The slit method of planting was the first to be tried in this work; it has been much used in forest planting because it is cheap. It seemed especially desirable in the sand hills because the soil is loose and light and free from stones. An ordinary spade, with 7 by 12 inch blade, is used, and may be light or heavy as the worker prefers. The blade is pushed straight down into the soil to its full depth, the handle is moved back and forth to open up a wedge-shaped hole, and the blade is then withdrawn. Taking a tree in the left hand, the planter whisks its roots into the hole, and with the right hand and right foot again inserts the spade parallel to the original insertion, and about an inch from it to close the original opening and to secure the tree in an upright position. While a new opening is made, it is readily closed by several successively shorter strokes with the spade and finally by pressing with the foot. The principal disadvantages of this method are: The inelastic depth of the slit; lack of spreading of the roots, which may lie in a cordlike or slightly flattened mass; and the danger, in rapid work, that the tips of the roots do not reach the bottom of the slit. Careless workmen actually have left the tips of the roots out of the ground and the whole root mass in the shape of the letter U. This is not, of course, an insuperable argument against the method, which has strong merits. Jul. 121, Forest Service, U. S. Dept. of Agriculture. PLATE IX. FIG. 1.— THE SLIT METHOD OF PLANTING IN FURROWS, KANSAS FOREST, 1906. The picture gives a good idea of the rolling character of the lands. FIG. 2.— RESULTS OF THE SLIT PLANTING OF 1903-4 AT HALSEY, WITH FOREST-PULLED SEEDLINGS; A SCATTERED STAND OF JACK PINE. Bui. 121, Forest Service, U. S. Dept. of Agriculture. PLATE X. FIG. 1.— RESULTS OF THE TRENCHER PLANTING OF 1911 AT HALSEY, WITH LOCALLY GROWN TRANSPLANTS. Fully 90 per cent of the jack pine is growing in every furrow. FIG. 2.— SEED BEDS BROADCASTED IN 1912. The surfaces of new beds are protected by burlap, and beds in which germination has begun are covered by low shade frames, and the burlap is removed. FIELD PLANTING. 41 It was used at Halsey for several years, and while a part of the early failures may be accredited to the method, not a little was due to carelessness of individual workmen, as shown by the differences between adjacent rows in the plantations. At any rate, it did not appear to be adapted to sand-hill planting, because it did not give the roots enough opportunity to obtain moisture. The slit method was practically abandoned in 1908 for the square- hole method, which had first been tried the previous year. THE SQUARE-HOLE METHOD. » The square-hole method of planting makes use of a hole a foot deep and 7 inches square. Because of the looseness of the soil the hole may be dug with from three to five strokes of the spade, the earth being piled on one side. A second man follows the digger, setting the trees by simply holding their stems at the proper height in the center of the hole and pulling the earth in around the roots with the other hand. This method, in the hands of the average workman, has all of the disadvantages of the slit method, except that there is little danger of the root tips being left near the surface of the ground. Since the digger has no knowledge of the actual size of the tree to be planted in any individual hole, he makes all holes of a certain depth. While many are deeper than necessary, not one is deep enough for those trees which, by good fortune, reach the field with long roots, which have to be coiled in the bottom of the hole. Furthermore, there is nothing to prevent all of the long roots being crowded together into a cordlike mass when the earth is thrown in around them. Therefore, in spite of the greater expenditure which was being made to give the trees careful planting, it was soon found that the square-hole method was not materially improving the results. THE CONE METHOD. As a result the cone method was tried, and with great success. It is similar to the square-hole method with this addition — after the hole has been dug the planter makes a mound or cone of earth in the bottom of the pit, spreads the roots around this cone, and weights them in place with a small quantity of earth before pulling in the larger mass. This keeps the roots separate and gives them access to greater soil space. There is a reduction of loss immediately after planting, but later, when the roots of grasses and other native vege- tation begin to crowd into the space needed by the tree, its advantages disappear, and if the tree is not firmly established nothing can save it. Table 11 compares the success attained with the three methods of planting in 1909. 42 FOKESTATION, SAND HILLS NEBKASKA AND KANSAS. TABLE 11. — Results of slit, square-hole, and cone methods of planting, Nebraska, 1909 Proportion of thrifty trees left. Average height of trees. Method. Fall, 1909. Spring, 1910. Fall, 1910. Spring, 1911. Fall, 1911. Fall, 1911. Per cent. Per cent. Per cent. Per cent. Per cent. Inches. Cone 70 51 47 45 40 6.4 Square hole. . 36 26 25 17 15 5.6 Slit 42 36 36 36 33 5.4 The immediate advantage of the cone method is plainly shown. It is shown no less plainly that this does not prevent the trees from ultimately succumbing to the competition with native vegetation. Therefore, considering the much greater cost, the cone method does not appear to be justified. Making a definite calculation, with trees at $8 per thousand at planting time, the relative cost of establishing a plantation to the age of 3 years is as follows: Slit method, $4.34; square-hole method, $10.70; and cone method, $7.20. The slit method involves greater expense than the others for trees alone. But in cost of trees plus labor it is the cheapest, and this must be the final basis of comparison. This pointed to the necessity of developing the slit method by trying to eliminate its bad features. THE TRENCHER METHOD. The trencher method, which is nothing more than a mechanical form of the slit method, has been developed since 1909. This con- sists in turning back a shallow furrow with an ordinary breaking plow or with a sidehill plow. In this furrow the trencher plow is run, to make a V-shaped trench from 8 to 10 inches deep and about 1J inches wide at the top. The trees are planted at intervals in this trench, much the same as in slits, using the heel or a spade to press the walls of the trench against the tree roots. The trench has one great advantage over the slit, because there is more space to whisk the roots to the bottom. Moreover, it is rapid and cheap; six horses with plow and trencher prepare the ground for from 10 to 12 planters. With a horse's labor calculated in the ratio of two-fifths of a man's labor, the average day's planting per man by the trencher method is 1,061 trees, as against 215 for the cone, 500 for the square-hole, and 1,038 for the slit method. The trencher planting of 1911 was highly successful and showed from 90 to 92 per cent of thrifty survivals at the end of the first year. While this was due in part to favorable seasonal conditions, there seems to be no doubt but that a cheap and efficient mechanical method of planting may be developed. The trencher method is certainly the least expensive. Where cost is not a consideration, the cone method is the one to use. FIELD PLANTING. 43 PLANTING AFTER PLOWING. As a result of the experience of farmers whose fields were literally blown away alter one or two years of cultivation it was not con- sidered advisable to plow the ground completely before planting in the sand hills. Much of the original slit planting was, therefore, done in the sod, while some was done in single furrows, spaced from 4 to 6 feet apart, on contours. This furrow destroyed some native vegetation and gave the newly planted trees a little better opportunity for obtaining moisture, but allowed the trees to be covered by sand, which, when the sun shines directly on it, becomes so hot as literally to bake anything in contact with it. For some time, therefore, the desirability of furrows was in question. Now, however, it is proved that they are neither necessary nor desirable where the sand is loose and likely to be blown over the trees. On the other hand, they are desirable and perfectly safe where the sod is heavy and the soil firm. In 1909, for the first time, a small area was thoroughly plowed before planting. The area was selected in a bottom situation where the sod was very heavy. There was no blowing of the soil during the first year, though the ground was once cultivated during the summer. At the end of the season 92 per cent of the trees planted were living in this area, as against 80 per cent in furrows and 57 per cent where the sod had not been broken. By the end of 1911, how- ever, the proportion of survivals in the plowed ground was consid- erably less than in the other two situations. This was partly due to the destructive work of pocket gophers in the plowed ground, and partly due to the invasion of weeds which appeared to demand even more moisture than the native grasses and herbs. Until further tests are made on a large scale the exact effect of plowing for pine plantations can not be known. Even though plowing and subsequent cultivation have a distinct effect in in- creasing the proportion of survivals in Nebraska, it is doubtful if the expense will be warranted. In Kansas, on the other hand, experience indicates that only by thorough cultivation of the ground can young trees be brought through the first year, if that happens to be a dry one. Even there it is possible that double furrows, some distance apart, subsequently cultivated as with listed corn, may be effective and much safer, because of the smaller danger from blowing of the soil. It is quite certain that the ground should never be plowed except where the sod is dense and the soil heavy, and not even furrowed where the sand is loose on exposed ridges and south slopes. 44 FOKESTATION, SAND HILLS NEBRASKA AND KANSAS. FIELD SOWING. As early as the spring of 1903 direct seeding, or the sowing of seed in the field where the trees are to stand, was attempted. The seed was simply broadcasted, and nothing came of it. Further sowing of yellow pine was tried in 1904, but with corn planters to get the seed into the soil. Little evidence of germination was found, and no trees grew. The total failure may be ascribed largely to the activities of field mice and other rodents, which, in spite of the red- lead covering which was placed on the seed, had begun uncovering and devouring them within three days. The idea of poisoning these rodents had not at that time been developed. No success was attained with direct seeding on the Nebraska Forest until 1909, and then on such a small scale that it has had no practical influence. In that year seed of yellow, Scotch, and jack pines were broadcasted on the heavy litter under sand-hill willows and thoroughly raked in. Within a short time seedlings appeared, and while all species ger- minated, only the yellow-pine seedlings survived. These, at the end of the third summer, made a stand of about 850 seedlings per acre. Considering that five seeds were sown to the square foot, this is a very poor showing. However, conditions appear to be so favor- able under the willow clumps that the possibility of obtaining a stand by sowing in prepared seed spots is being investigated. So far, rodents and birds seem to be the chief agents of failure. In Nebraska direct seeding will never take the place of planting on any but the most favorable sites, and possibly not there. It holds no promise at all for the Kansas sand hills. EFFECT OF CLIMATE ON TIME OF PLANTING. Those climatic conditions of the sand hills which are unfavorable to tree planting can not be changed as a whole, though as planting progresses trees which are already established will temper the wind to those newly planted. On the other hand, the favorable climatic conditions of early spring can be used to advantage, and the trees can be well established in their new conditions before the sum- mer dry weather sets in. The dry periods are usually of rather short duration, but are very trying. To take advantage of the spring season planting is begun just as soon as the frost is out of the ground, especially on south slopes, which dry out very rapidly. The effective- ness of early planting is shown not only by the generally greater success with it in the last two or three years, but particularly by the good results attained on south slopes, which, it was at first thought, would be impossible to plant at all. Fall planting has been abandoned because of the lack of snow, which leaves the newly planted trees exposed to drying winds for tin. 121. Forest Service, U. S. Dept. of Agriculture, PLATE XI. Bui. 121, Forest Service, U. S. Dept of Agriculture PLATE XII. a UJ ^ n ^ o> O & < •** "> £ u- . > O CM o CO ^~ "g 2 •<- 8 ^~ " 05 > 2 '•' bi -. . 01 p 2 U .c'o < «| g!G o: -i S ^ «t «-; U^R ^ | o< si I -r ° ^ Q; 2 O> >> 21 1 1 > oc ~S ^^5 1,2 oc I I- CO 2 LJ_ M p '> 0 A yj 2 < Q H UJ • CO z g> V - / 3! -2 9S 1 5 ^ c - > uT . i 6|g | H 0^" * L < — ii Bui. 121, Forest Service, U. S. Dept. of Agriculture. PLATE XIII. flcvi px i CE 2 ^ gi 1 93 | cc ul Qj . 'i od 3| ! 91 s <.* i 51 s z S ^10 I 6> ENEMIES OF PLANTATIONS. 45 several months before they are able to begin taking up moisture. Even very early fall planting, which has given the trees opportunity for root growth before cold weather, has yielded unsatisfactory results. ENEMIES OF PLANTATIONS. Forest protection is everywhere recognized as one of the chief functions of forestry, and especially so in the United States with its virgin forests, but it is nowhere of greater moment than in the sand hills. Almost every kind of forest enemy has been encountered since planting wTas begun in Nebraska. Of the enemies of the embryo forest nothing can be considered of so great import as fire. FIRE. Probably for centuries the prairie fire has been the expected, and sometimes the desired, thing in the sand-hill region. Prairie fires temporarily improve grazing conditions by destroying the old grass, which has no forage value, and making room for a more vigorous growth of the new grass. But they undoubtedly have done the sand hills permanent injury by destroying the humus which other- wise would have collected in the soil and would have improved its composition and productivity. The most destructive prairie fires come in the early spring before new grass has sprouted. Even the lightest of fires destroys small coniferous trees, which burn readily, though jack pine at Halsey has sometimes recovered after a light scorching. To protect the plantations properly requires constant care during the danger season and the preparation each year of plowed fire lines. As with most fire lines, these are valuable principally as a basis for back-firing and can not be depended upon to check a fire. For complete safety from outside fires all of the plantations are sur- rounded by double guards, consisting of two strips of furrows with a grassy strip between them from 60 to 100 feet wide, which is burned off annually. Then, there is the additional problem of protecting from fires which may arise within the plantation, either as a result of lightning or through the carelessness of laborers and hunters. This internal protection is afforded to the plantation as a whole by divid- ing it into tracts of 40 acres or more, separated by fire lines. While absolute protection is hard to achieve, the fire danger will decrease somewhat as the trees become older and more resistant and as the grass is shaded out. As soon as the trees become so large that they will not be broken off or browsed stock may be used to keep the grass down. INSECTS. The only destructive insect which has appeared in the Nebraska plantations is the Nan tucket pine-tip moth (Retiniafrustrana), which appeared in 1909. Similar insects had been noted in the Pine Ridge 46 FORESTATION, SAND HILLS NEBRASKA AND KANSAS. forests as early as 1901. 1 Since 1909 it has increased very rapidly at Halsey, doing a great deal of damage to jack pine, and to a less extent to yellow pine. The larvse of this moth bore into the young succulent shoots at the ends of the branches, hollowing them out for a distance of from 2 to 6 inches and usually causing the death of the shoot as far back from the tip as the boring goes. New growth is usually made at once from buds below the affected tip, but the natural leader on the main stem or side branch of the tree is destroyed, and with it the possibility of symmetrical growth. On those trees which have been attacked for two or three years such a large number of shoots have been formed to take the places of those destroyed that a "witch broom7' is made. Should the pest become less abundant soon, the damage so far done will not work any per- manent injury to the trees. Dr. A. D. Hopkins, of the Bureau of Entomology, United States Department of Agriculture, is authority for the statement that observations on this insect in the District of Columbia and vicinity since 1879 indicate that continued damage is prevented by natural enemies, and that only at comparatively long intervals is it very abundant and injurious. Two parasites have been found to attack this insect in the Nebraska plantation. The sawfly 2 which is destroying pine in the Pine Ridge has not yet appeared at Halsey. BIRDS AND RODENTS. Pocket gophers are probably the next most damaging enemies of the young forest and kill a good many trees. Most of the damage is done immediately after planting, since the stirring up of the soil seems to attract these animals. The gophers are everywhere present, and have done some damage in each plantation each year, taking trees of as great height as 6 feet. The poisoning of these animals is not impossible, but it is slow and expensive work. Sharp-tailed grouse and quail nip the buds, and rabbits cut off the tops of young trees. The harm from these injuries is that they retard growth, though in the Kansas sand hills so many trees were killed outright by rabbits in 1909-10 that it was necessary to pro- tect the small planting area by a rabbit-proof fence. In this case the bark of yellow pine was taken off almost completely. It becomes less attractive after the trees have been out one season. Corsican pine was started in the Garden City nursery in 1910, principally because it was immune from rabbit damage. i Forest Belts of Western Kansas and Nebraska, Bulletin 66, Forest Service, U. S. Dept. of Agriculture. 1901. » A New Sawfly Enemy of the Bull-pine in Nebraska, M. H. Swenk, 24th Annual Report, Nebr. Agr. Experiment Station. GEOWTH. 47 GROWTH. The growth of the jack pines planted in the Nebraska sand hills has been just about the same as that of the Bruner plantation, de- scribed in Table 6, though the planting of 1903, with forest seedlings about 3 years old at the time of planting, is the only one old enough to be comparable. At the end of 1910 — that is, after eight years in the hills — these jack pines had an average height of 7.54 feet and a maximum height of 10 feet. The trees have not been stimulated to height growth by crowding, as in the Bruner plantation, where they were spaced 2 by 2 feet, but since 1910 they have been making at least a foot a year in spite of insect damage. These facts indicate that the tree will, at least for a number of years, make good develop- ment. It can hardly be expected that jack pine will attain in the light soil of the sand hills more than its average height, about 60 feet. From the planting of 1909, when, for the first time, the several species were planted side by side at Halsey, with stock of the same age (2-1 transplants) it is seen that jack pine makes better height growth in the early stages than any of the other species. This earlier supremacy may not be maintained. It already appears that yellow pine is capable of fully as rapid growth when once established, and the tree normally attains a much greater height. The com- parative growth of the several species is shown by Table 13. TABLE 13. — Comparative growth of different species of pine in the Nebraska sandhills. Site. Species. Growth, 1911. Total end of* 1911. Proportion of total height at- tained at sixth year. South slope Jack pine Inches. Inches. 18.1 Per cent. Yellow pine 6.3 Do Scotch pine 9.0 Do Norway pine 7.8 Do Austrian pine 1 6 4 Bottom Yellow pine 6.4 North slope do 7.6 Do . Scotch pine 3.4 12.0 28 Do Yellow pine . 2.1 7.1 30 Ridge do 1 8 6.6 27 Do Austrian pine 1 1.6 6.9 26 1 Austrian pine trees were 2-year seedlings at time of planting, hence are 1 year younger than trees of the otner species. Yellow pine is barely getting under way at six years, while jack pine is growing much more vigorously. Table 14 gives figures for older plantations of yellow pine and those for some of slightly greater age than in the Halsey plantations, grown naturally in the Pine Ridge region.2 2 From "Forest Belts of Western Kansas and Nebraska," Bulletin Agriculture. >, Forest Service, U. S. Dept. 48 FORESTATION, SAND HILLS NEBRASKA AND KANSAS. TABLE 14. — Height growth of yellow pine at various ages. Propor- Situation. Age of stock when planted. Time in planta- tion. Present age of trees. Growth in last year. Total height. tion of total height attained in last year. Years. Years. Years. Inches. Inches. Per cent. Bottom 2 3 5 1.5 5 5 27 Do 4 2 6 1 4 8 2 17 Do 3 3 6 2.1 7 1 28 Do 4 3 7 1 9 7 7 16 North slope 2 6 g 5.7 16.6 34 Do 1 7 g 8 3 27 8 30 Flat 1 g g 8 2 36 6 i 22 West slope 1 g g 10 0 38 4 2 26 North slope 1 g g 10 5 41 2 325 Crawford, Pine Ridge 10 4.5 28 8 16 Bordeaux, Pine Ridge 10 5 5 33 6 16 Belmont, Pine Ridge 12 8.0 37 2 21 1 76 per cent of leaders attacked by pine-tip moth in 1911. 2 45 per cent of leaders attacked by pine-tip moth in 1911. 3 25 per cent of leaders attacked by pine-tip moth hi 1911. It is thus quite evident that yellow pine is going to make excellent height growth in the sand hills when once established. The deep- green color of the trees and the long needles are other evidences of thriftiness. The well-established trees have more the appearance of those growing in the moist Black Hills region than of those in the Rocky Mountains proper. The few examples given are sufficient to indicate the feasibility of growing forests in the sand hills. It is impossible to foretell the size that will be attained by yellow pine, or at what age the trees will produce merchantable timber. While the jack pine, because of its habitually scrubby character, may never attain to a size sufficient for saw timber, there can be little doubt but that the yellow pine will, and possibly, the Scotch pine. Yellow pine might well be grown as the major product, with jack pine as a secondary tree, in mixture to stimulate the height growth of yeUow pine, and to be cut at an early age for fence posts and other small material. Jack pine, in 20 years, should make one first-class and one second- class post per tree. These may safely be valued at 8 and 4 cents, respectively, or 12 cents per tree. Suppose, then, that 2,500 trees are planted per acre, at a cost of $8 per thousand. Of these, 80 per cent are jack pine and 20 per cent yeUow pine. Suppose again, that 80 per cent of the jack pines and 60 per cent of the yellow pines succeed. The 1,600 jack pines, cut at 20 years, give a gross income of $192 per acre. This is sufficient to cover the cost, of plantation, with 4 per cent interest, and protection at 10 cents per acre per year, and leave a net annual income of $4.87. The 300 yellow pines per acre are left, and being freed from interest-bearing debt, may be grown to almost any age with reasonable assurance of profit. While these are rough calculations and subject to error, it is not difficult to see that CONCLUSIONS. 49 the growing of timber on the sand hills, both for minor and major products, may be on a perfectly safe financial basis and may be put- ting the land to a considerably higher use than for grazing. CONCLUSIONS. In summing up the sand-hill planting it may be said that the 85 or 90 per cent of success attained in 1911, as compared with 5 or 10 per cent in the first planting, is due largely to improved methods hi the nursery. Seedlings pulled in the forest should never be used in an arid climate, and even those which have been grown in near-by nurseries may not be sturdy enough to survive unless they have been once transplanted. The inauguration of transplanting has had as much to do with progress as anything else. Sturdier trees are now being grown as the result of the generous use of organic fertilizers and the applica- tion of plenty of water to the seedling and transplant beds at the right time. Reduction in the amount of shading has also prepared the trees more fully for the sand-hill conditions. Undoubtedly some of the first planting by the slit method did not sufficiently take into account the struggle which the trees would have for moisture. The improved results to-day, however, can not in any large measure be ascribed to new methods of planting, since the best results ever attained on a large scale have foUowed the use of the trencher, a mechanical means for making slits. The better stock now available may safely be planted with the trencher, in furrows, much as the first planting was done, but more rapidly and yet more carefully. Where small lots of trees are to be planted, and the ques- tion of initial expense is not so important as the obtaining of imme- diate success, the cone method of planting should undoubtedly be used. fc Greater care in handling the trees, with the elimination of the water bucket as a transporting vessel, and the avoidance of long storage, either in storehouses or boxes, have assisted the work. Undoubtedly, the most important single factor is earlier spring planting, which also makes possible earlier transplanting and earlier seed sowing. The conditions in the sand hills at the time when the frost leaves the ground are usually favorable. The soil is moist, and the trees are ready to grow. With each day the moisture is dis- sipated, the heat becomes greater, and the danger that the tree will become dried out before its roots can establish themselves in the new site, is greatly increased. With these facts recognized, it is cer- tain that only exceptional and unusually damaging conditions can bring failure. o 338431 V UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY U. C. BERKELEY LIBRARIES