S2Past attempts to establish sugar maple (Acer saccharum Marsh.) by planting have generally met with little success. The failures have been blamed mainly on competition by other vegetation and on damage done by animals. Finding an effective way to establish sugar maple seedlings is a key part in the research being carried on in Vermont by the USDA Forest Service to develop superior sugar maples for producing sap and sugar. In 1964 we began a small planting study with sugar maple seedling to evaluate several methods of weed control and protection from animals. The results indicated that black plastic film used as mulch provides excellent weed control for as long as 4 years, and increases growth significantly. However, the protective treatments we tried (an animal repellent and wire screens) were not entirely effective; so the full potential of the black plastic mulch treatment was masked by damage done by repeated deer browsing. S3.