It would be well from time to time to inspect these seeds to see whether they were in good condition and check the temperatures as well.  If they start to sprout all the better; they can then be planted with the sprout downward and the nut barely covered with earth.  Some years I have had sprouts nearly six inches long on my chestnuts which had been so stored and care will have to be taken not to break the sprout when transplanting the nuts.

In planting nuts, great care must be taken not to plant them too deeply.  Large nuts, such as black walnuts, butternuts and English walnuts, are often planted with a small part of the nut still exposed.  Certainly, the depth of the soil over a nut should never exceed the thickness of the nut.  Most seeds develop best when they are planted just under the surface of the soil.  The earth should be lightly tamped around the planted seeds to eliminate air-pockets.  A thin coating of manure, not more than three inches deep, is valuable if large seeds are planted but it is detrimental to the development of small seeds and manure should never be used for evergreens.  Seeds of the nut pines, usually purchased from seedsmen and received in a dry state, should be planted no deeper than their own diameter in a light, sandy loam.  A seed bed, incidentally, is a very necessary protection against rodents in the case of nut pine seed.  I have used a mixture of bone meal on such seeds with good results.  Four quarts of bone meal carefully worked into the first two or three inches of the surface soil of a 4 x 12 seed bed greatly increases its fertility.  Sifted hardwood ashes scattered over the bed after the seed is in, will discourage cutworms and increase the potash content of the soil.

Proper drying and storage are of no use if nuts are not planted where they will have protection against rodents, improper drainage, and other hazards.  To keep them from being eaten by rodents, nut seeds should be planted under wire screens inside a deep frame.  The seed beds I have made for use in my nursery are four feet wide and twelve feet long.  By using heavy galvanized hardware cloth 2 x 2 mesh, which means that it has 1/2-inch square holes, is ideal for the top and sides of this frame.  By using this wire cloth 2 feet wide, 18 inches is sunk under the ground surface, and only 6 inches protrudes above.  This is to prevent burrowing rodents from going underneath and extracting the seeds which you will find they will do unless the screen protection goes down deep enough into the ground to discourage them.  A stout frame of rot-resisting wood, such as cedar or fir should be placed on the inside of this countersunk screen.  This should also be 4 feet wide, 12 feet long so that a similar frame, which is removable, can be placed over this.  The edges of the frame should match perfectly so that no rodents can reach the interior of the seed bed without going down 1-1/2 feet under ground to burrow under the countersunk screen.  Several thousand evergreens or several hundred walnut trees can be raised in a seed bed this size.