138 TRANSACTIONS OF ROYAL SCOTTISH ARBORICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



of Forest Economy, 1757. pa-ge 486, gives precise instructions 

 as to the storage of coniferous and deciduous tree seed mixed 

 with sand and sawdust and placed where they will not become 

 too dry. Gruben agreed that this was a good method. These 

 and other similar methods of storage are to be found frequently 

 in the literature. I would like to mention the experiments 

 on the storage of acorns by A. Cieslar {Centra Iblatt fiir das 

 gesamte Forstwesen, 1896), and also the recent publication of 

 Haack, " Pine seed, several years storage without diminishing 

 the germination percentage " {Zeitschrift fur Forst- utidjagdwesen, 

 July 1909), without in any way regarding other work that 

 has been done as of no importance. 



The places for storage chosen in nearly all these experiments 

 were similar, e.g. cellars, floored rooms, etc. The difference in 

 specified storage places in different localities, even in one and 

 the same house, lead to diifferent results under apparently 

 similar conditions. 



In carrying out the experiments here described and in those 

 which will be published later, I was guided by the following 

 consideration : — Under what natural conditions (factors) is the 

 seed stored until time for germination arrives, and what life 

 processes are active in the resting seed .? The answer to the 

 second question, especially, and its application, is fundamental 

 and decisive in the selection of a rational method of storage. 



The seed and fruit of our forest trees ripen in summer and 

 autumn. A small number of trees — willows, elms, birches, and 

 poplars — ripen their seed in May or June. The fall of the fruit 

 and the escape of the seed are spread over the whole year. 

 In March and April the larches and firs have shed their seed 

 of the previous year, and the willows and poplars begin to shed 

 their already ripened seed. The seed-fall in the case of most 

 other trees takes place in the autumn when it is ripe, i.e. from 

 September to December. Only a few trees — ash, spruce, larch, 

 Scots pine, Austrian pine, and usually the mountain pine and 

 Robinia — do not shed their fruit and seed till spring. 



The seed and fruit of the oak, Spanish chestnut, beech, horn- 

 beam, sycamore, lime, cherry, walnut, alder, Silver fir, Cembran 

 pine and juniper, fall to the ground after ripening and lie 

 there over winter exposed to moisture and low temperature. 

 The seed of the spruce, larch, Scots pine, Austrian pine 

 and mountain pine pass the winter in the cone protected from 



