674 AMERICAN FORESTRY 



All candidates for the degree are required to live for two months in sum- 

 mer between the sophomore and junior and junior and senior years at a lum- 

 ber camp, sawmill or turpentine distillery, to keep a diary of each day's work, 

 make an herbarium of the flora of the locality and prepare a thesis of the oper- 

 ations being carried on. It is preferred that students secure some employ- 

 ment connected with the operations. This practical work takes the place of 

 the summer camp which was last held in 1910 in Florida. 



A magazine devoted to the forest, flsh and game interests of the South is 

 edited by the professor of foresti'y, assisted by the forestry students. While 

 this is primarily a students' publication, it contains material of interest and 

 value to the general reader of timberland owner. 



The school is doing careful work along conservative lines and making the 

 most of its facilities. 



COLLECTING LODGEPOLE PINE SEED 



By a. M. cook, 



SUPEBVISOB ARAPAHO NATIONAL FOREST. 



Editor's Note. — A general account of methods of collecting and handling seed in 

 the national forests by Sydney Moore was published in this magazine for March, 1911. 

 See also a series of pictures, "Reforesting in the National Forests," May, 1911. The 

 Present article deals more intimately with a particular phase of the work on one 

 forest, the Arapaho in Colorado. 



XN addition to the regular duties of the rangers on the national forests, 

 sucli as overseeing grazing and timber sales, and building cabins, roads, 

 trails, and telephone lines, the annual harvesting of the cone crop has 

 become a very important task for which considerable preparation and fore- 

 thought are necessary. In the state of Colorado no kind of tree seed is more 

 desired for reforesting the waste places of the mountain country than lodge- 

 pole pine. 



Although it grows to no great size, lodgepole pine is of importance when- 

 ever it is found in abundance. Without its help the rancher would be at a 

 loss for material for fences, log houses and outbuildings, and telephone poles. 

 By far the larger part of the Colorado mines are timbered with material from 

 this pine. But its use in the round does not exhaust its possibilities. Good 

 common lumber, hewn railroad ties, and box boards are more and more in 

 demand as Colorado grows and its resources are developed, and the Forest 

 Service does well to join hands with nature in the propagation of a species 

 which will fill this demand. 



It takes two years for the seeds of lodgepole pine to ripen. During the 

 first summer the little cones form near the tips of the branches towards the 

 tops of the trees. They are a rusty red or purplish color, and shade in so well 

 with the colors of the bark and foliage that they are hardly noticed unless 

 especially sought for. During the first winter and the second spring the 

 young cones develop rapidly. By July of the second summer they have 

 reached full size, and can readily be seen glistening bright green among the 

 leaves towards the outer ends of the branches. The tiny seeds themselves are 

 black and remain concealed inside the cone until the squirrels, the action of 

 the alternating heat and cold of the mountain climate, or the scorch of a for- 



