1 68 TRANSACTIONS OF ROYAL SCOTTISH ARBORICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



23. Seed Experiments with Pinus sylvestris. 



( mf/i Plate.) 

 By Frasek Story. 



It is generally taken for granted that Scots pine seed yields 

 the best plants when obtained from trees grown in Scotland. 

 For proof that this opinion prevails, one need only refer to 

 nurserymen's catalogues where such expressions as " grown from 

 Scotch seed," "true native Scotch fir," "must not be confounded 

 with the cheap Scotch fir obtained from the Continent," and the 

 like are so commonly used It may turn out that the reliance 

 on Scots pine seed emanating from Scotland is not misplaced ; 

 but the present series of experiments (conducted at Bangor, 

 and at many Investigation Stations on the Continent) seem to 

 suggest that we may require to reconsider our decision, at least 

 as regards height-growth in youth. The following statement 

 deals chiefly with the results as shown at the end of the second 

 year, but a table is also appended giving the size attained after 

 transplanting into nursery lines. It will be seen that, in the seed 

 beds, Scotland had the poorest plants. They are still no bigger 

 than the smallest of their neighbours, but a close examination of 

 the type of plant produced, leads one to regard them more favour- 

 ably than when judged merely from their size. This opinion I 

 find is shared in North Germany, and in Austria, where, as at other 

 stations, the Scotch plants show least growth in height so far. 



Below will be found a list of countries taking part in the in- 

 vestigation. Cones were collected to a quantity of about eight 

 bushels in each country, according to directions issued by the 

 Prussian Forest Investigation Station. The seeds were separated 

 from the cones in the seed kilns at Eberswalde, and distributed 

 from there to all countries participating. The Scotch seed 

 was kindly supplied by Mr J. Grant Thomson, Grantown-on- 

 Spey, who writes as follows : — 



" 8^ bushels of Scots fir cones were collected on 17 th December 

 1906 in beautiful, dry weather from trees averaging 112 

 years of age. The trees were sound and vigorous, and 

 had been grown in a fairly dense wood, well thinned now. 

 The cones are from trees which we are sure were 

 produced by natural reproduction." 



Professor Schwappach kindly sent me a portion of all the seeds, 

 and these were sown in April 1907 upon seed beds in the College 

 grounds at Bangor. The individual plots were not large but 



