ness in the Pacific Northwest without looking around. And in a large sense, the first selected field for reforestation Mt. Hebo-has been an experiment station to determine accurately and decisively the reforestation possibilities of the section of the United States where the greatest area of uncut timber land yet remains.

Mt. Hebo is located within a great one-hundred-mile-long strip of burnedover timber land. Here, some fifty or sixty years ago, occurred one of the most disastrous forest fires of the West, hundreds of thousands of acres of giant timber being eaten to the ground. And since that day, different parts of this area have been periodically reburned. Mt. Hebo, itself, has been burned many times. Before the creation of the National Forests and the Forest Service, stockmen were in the habit of deliberately starting fires in the fall, so that the luxuriant ferns, brush, and young trees would be charred back in advance of the spring grass.

The first experiments in reforestation at Mt. Hebo, beginning in the fall of 1909, were rather discouraging. The rainfall there averages about one hundred inches annually, and the soil is generally of good depth. So it seemed that trees ought to grow with

39

out any trouble. Three different methods of seeding were tested out in these early experiments. Several acres were "seed spotted"-from twelve to thirty seeds being dropped into little dug-up spots about a foot in diameter, these spots being from five to eight feet. apart. Another few acres were sown broadcast, the seeds being roughly harrowed into the ground with an alder-tree harrow. A third patch was sown broadcast, and where possible to get in between the stumps, the seed was harrowed into the ground with a farmer's regulation spring-tooth harrow. In the spring of 1910, an additional area of six hundred and seventy acres was "seed spotted". And in the winter of 1910-11, nineteen hundred acres were sown broadcast on a tract which had been accidentally burned over the previous summer.

planted to young Douglas firs. Two-year-old nursery stock was used, the young trees being from four to eight inches high. The trees were spaced about

A battle was begun and it is still under way. Wheat, treated with a solution of strychnine, was scattered before the time set for the tree seed planting, the grain being scattered in tablespoonfuls, and concealed from the birds under stumps and logs, and in burrows. In the fall of 1912, twenty-five hundred acres of Mount Hebo land was sown to Douglas fir by the "seed-spot" method, after the area had been previously treated with the poisoned wheat. The birds are not poisoned, because on the whole they are beneficial in keeping down forest insect pests.

A second method for starting a young forest was also begun, and this method is very promising. Nursery grown trees were set out. This method was first adopted in the fall of 1911 and the spring of 1912, when seven hundred acres were

eight feet apart, being placed in the ground either by the "spade" method, or the "grub-hoe" method. The spade

To test the possibilities of fall planting against spring planting, an additional twenty-five acres were planted to Douglas fir seedlings in the fall of 1912; and an additional five hundred and fifty acres of two-year-old Douglas fir trees were planted in the spring of 1913.

It is

Up to the present time, the planting of tree seedlings seems much more promising for effecting the reforestation of the Pacific Northwest, than the mere sowing of sowing of seed. It is not yet known whether the poisoned wheat will keep down the pilfering rodents. But at its best, sowing is known to be risky, because young trees are very sensitive to climatic conditions. If the fall rains delay a little longer than usual, for example, a large percentage of the young trees will not weather through.

To avoid just this contingency, nursery trees are grown for hardiness.

The

Cascade Mountains, fifteen miles from the Columbia River on the Washington side. This nursery has now two and onehalf million trees growing there, the annual output of two-year-old trees is about one and one-half millions. two remaining smaller nurseries are, respectively, the Page Creek Nursery near Grant's Pass in southern Oregon, which is merely an experimental nursery with an annual capacity of one hundred thousand trees; and the Silverton Nursery near Seattle, Washington, with an annual capacity of five hundred thousand trees.

Toward the reforestation of the Pacific Northwest many varieties of forest trees have been tested out. But the Douglas fir is decidedly the favorite and is being almost exclusively planted. It will grow to merchantable size in from eighty to one hundred years; and the trees should be harvested at

F

on

ROM a rented

cow to a good-
sized dairy in
less than two
years is the

extraordinary record
of two hustling col-
lege youngsters.
Tony Mullen and
George Hamil-
ton, one a
junior and the
other a sopho-
more in the
College of Em-
poria, Kansas,
are the owners
of a modern

sanitary dairy which is

and a hand carrier was purchased. For the consideration of a quart of milk daily, the boys were allowed the use of the basement of their rooming house for handling the milk and washing the bottles.

Before the first cow had paid for herself the boys bought another, and in a few weeks another. Always the increase in business kept ahead of the purchases, and with the animals as security it was easy to borrow money for additions to the herd. With the buying of the third cow, a pushcart was substituted for the hand carrier.

school.

In the fall of 1911, George Hamilton, a freshman with his way to make, rented a "scrub" cow, and with a tin pail and quart measure, started out to peddle milk in the neighborhood of his rooming house. At the end of two weeks the proceeds from the milk sales. had paid the cow rent, the feed bill, and left money in his pocket. A vision of the possibilities of the dairy business began to haunt his study hours. He imparted the vision to his roommate, Tony Mullen, and a partnership was formed, the first transaction of which was to buy the rented cow. From that start has grown the College Dairy, which today is one of the town institutions of Emporia.

With the dignity of ownership came improvements in the delivery system. Bottles were substituted for the pail and measure,

The boys were accommodating, the milk was delivered promptly, the bottles were kept clean and sweet, and the business grew like magic. By the end of the winter term the herd had increased to ten or twelve cows, which had paid, or were paying, for them

selves. Then the first big venture was taken: the boys borrowed one thousand dollars to put into a five-acre tract bordering the city limits, and two hundred dollars more to erect a silo. The next purchase was a bargain team, and the pushcart was replaced by a second-hand buggy. During Easter vacation the boys plowed and planted in corn their own land and an adjoining rented field. The crop

Two HUNDRED DOLLARS WAS BORROWED IN ORDER TO ERECT A SILO