FORKST commissioner's REPORT. 67 



seeds in such profusion as to cover the ground. How best to se- 

 cure them is a conundrum that we leave others to solve. There is 

 the same difficulty in obtaining seeds of evergreens, as they shed 

 their seeds in the fall, as soon as the frost lift^ the scales of their 

 cones. If the cones could be gathered before being opened by 

 frost, they would give us an abundant supply of seeds ; but unfor- 

 tunately they are beyond our reach. Seeds of the pines can some- 

 times be obtained when timber is being cut in the nick of time. 



We have often seen the ground so covered with the pill like seeds 

 of the European linden, that, if sugar coated, the dealer in patent 

 medicine might make them available in his business. Fortunately 

 there are persons who know how to secure all the different seeds 

 required, and there are dealers who make a specialty of supplying 

 them in large or small quantities. Forest-tree seeds can be ordered 

 of almost any seedsman, who will furnish them, if not in stock, 

 with very little delay, and at reasonable prices. Tlier^' is always 

 more or less uncertainty about their qualit}', as there is no general 

 demand for them, and they are liable to become so venerable with 

 age as to lose their vitality. 



The best time for gathering all seeds of forest trees is as soon as 

 they are ripe, and unless they are plauted at once they must be care- 

 fully preserved. There is no better way in which to keep the seeds 

 of conifers than in the package nature has provided for them. 

 JSome of the small seeds may be kept in the ordinary seed-bags of 

 cloth or paper, and, if stored in a cool, dry place, they will retain 

 their vitality for several months, possibly for years. 



But dried seeds start slowly ; many never grow, and others 

 remain in the ground one, two, and even three years before germi- 

 nation For this reason it is better to mix seeds with damp — not 

 wet — sand as soon as gathered, especially if the sowing is to be 

 deferred till spring. They may be put in boxes having holes in the 

 bottom to ensure drainage, and the whole buried in the ground 

 during winter. The seeds may be separated from the sand in 

 spring by screening, or they may be sown together in shallow 

 drills, as e'sewhere directed. 



The large seeds, such as the hickory and the oak, must never 

 become diy, neither should they be kept wet and warm. They 

 require exposure to frost, which opens their shells and allows the 

 germ and radicle to escape at the proper season. 



Spreading nuts and pits upon the ground as soon as gathered, 

 and covering lightly with sand or with boards to prevent the depre- 



