132 THE NEW FORESTRY. 



the chief depots of distribution. France collects on a smaller 

 scale than Germany, but is the principal source of such species 

 as oak, Spanish chestnut, hazel, maritime pine, broom, turze, 

 etc. Italy is also now collecting considerable quantities of the 

 seeds of many of the firs and rarer pines, and America sends 

 Douglas fir seeds and a few other species, while Japan sends 

 not only seeds of larch and many pines, but also a greater 

 variety of shrubs than can be had from any other source. 

 Our home supplies are, however, to us, for good reasons, the 

 most important. In Scotland we can procure seeds of every 

 variety of the common forest trees, if in some cases to a limited 

 extent, owing to unfavourable seasons. The principal collect- 

 ing districts seem to have been fixed, not because the best and 

 largest extent of certain trees are found there, but because 

 collectors once set agoing with one special article naturally 

 extend their operations to other species for which there is a 

 demand. Scotch fir and larch come principally from Perth, 

 Forfar, Inverness, Moray, Ross and Deeside ; and deciduous 

 species come principally from Perth, Moray, and Dumfries- 

 shire. From England we get our best acorns, chestnuts, 

 beech, and such like." 



SECTION III. COLLECTING TREE SEEDS. 



Where seeds are produced in sufficient quantities to make 

 gathering a paying business there are professional collectors 

 who go about their work in a systematic way, and the work 

 is often of a hazardous nature, as the collectors have to climb 

 the trees to their highest points and hook in the branches and 

 gather the seeds the best way they can. In Germany, where 

 the trees stand more closely together, the collector frequently 

 swings himself from one tree to another, like a squirrel, and 

 thus saves himself the labour of descending and climbing up 

 again. Seeds of deciduous trees and such as shed their seeds 

 on the ground are, of course, more easily collected. It is of 

 the highest importance that seed should be only collected 

 from healthy trees, but intense competition has had the effect 

 of driving collectors to the trees where the seeds are most 

 numerous and most easily procured and often of inferior 

 quality. It is a recognised fact that an excessive crop of seed, 

 especially on young trees, is a sure sign of weakness or ill- 

 health. If it be so important for the gardener and farmer to 

 select his seeds with care, how much more important should it 



