FOREST TREE SEED. 141 



less vigorous and slower-growing specimen, provided man has 

 not interfered with nature. It naturally follows that, eventually, 

 the majority of the trees in the forest which will bear seed will 

 be those which have proved themselves to be the most vigorous 

 and quick-growing. We want vigorous and quick-growing 

 timber of good quality. But if man, by whatever means, gives 

 numerical preponderance to the worst specimens, he interferes 

 with the laws of nature, and encourages the survival of the 

 unfit, which conduces to deterioration and, perhaps, ultimately 

 to extinction. Although sporting occurs, like tends to reproduce 

 like. Therefore, if we persist in collecting seed from bad 

 specimens, unsuitable and bad types and strains, we cannot 

 look for much improvement of the species although the harvest- 

 ing of the seed and the treatment and environment in nursery 

 and forest are all that can be desired. The seed selector 

 should always remember that each tree has an individuality of 

 its own, and that its qualities, good or bad, can be transmitted 

 to its offspring through the medium of the seed. Let us suppose 

 that a forester plants a number of larch trees all equal in size 

 and age, and that during their lifetime they receive an equal 

 chance to grow and develop, there may yet be a considerable 

 difference in their size and condition of health when they reach 

 maturity. Again, let us suppose that some person visits the 

 mature trees for the purpose of collecting seed. Would it be a 

 wise or a practical plan to collect the cones right away, without 

 ever giving a moment's thought as to which would be the best 

 trees from which to take the cones? I do not think it would be 

 a wise or a practical plan. Seed selectors should never neglect 

 to take into consideration the individual characteristics of the 

 specimens from which the seed is to be collected. Cones or 

 seed should never be taken from trees of small size, abnormal 

 branch development, or with crooked and ill-shaped stems. 

 Large, straight, well-balanced specimens in good health should 

 be chosen. Dwarfish trees, or trees having an abnormal 

 branch development, often produce a large amount of seed, 

 which is easily obtained owing to the small size or branchy 

 nature of the trees. Trees such as these are very attractive to 

 any seed collectors who are paid according to the quantity of 

 seed which they collect. Woods in seed-collecting areas which 

 have, through mismanagement or any other cause, undergone 

 from an early age a gradual process of thinning out of the best 



