CHAPTEK II. 



UTILIZATION OP THE FRUITS OF FOREST TREES. 



OWING to the present great development of the artificial 

 reproduction of trees, the harvesting and preparation of seeds 

 is of special importance. This business is carried on exten- 

 sively by seedsmen, whose enterprise is occupied chiefly in 

 the collection and preparation of coniferous seeds. 



It is proposed here to deal first with the characteristics of 

 seeds, then with the conditions under which our most impor- 

 tant forest-trees fructify. A number of factors determine the 

 fertility of the trees, or the non-production of seed, and these 

 require our careful consideration : such are the seasons of 

 ripening and of the fall of seeds ; methods of harvesting seeds 

 and their subsequent preparation ; storing seeds, estimating 

 their value and selling them, for sowing, fodder, for making 

 oil, etc. 



SECTION L CHARACTERISTICS OF SEEDS. 



The fruits of Oaks (Quercus), acorns, are borne on a cupula, or 

 cup, that is composed of scale-leaves ; the ripe acorn separates 

 from its cup. In white oaks (Q. peduncnlata, Q. sessilijiora, 

 etc.), the acorn ripens in the year of flowering ; with dark oaks 

 (Q. rubra, Q. Cerris, etc.), in the year following the flowering; 

 the seed is not fugitive.* The seed of Beech (Fag us) is 

 triangular in section, with a leathery brown shell ; there are 

 usually two seeds, rarely only one, entirely enclosed in a 

 cupula, which opens in four lappets ; the husk of the fruit, 

 when ripe, bursts in dry weather, so that the unfugitive seeds 

 fall to the ground. The seed of the Ash (Fnu-iniia) is long 



* The word seed is used here indifferently for seed or fruit, in accordance 

 with economic iisa.^c. Winded M6dB, or Fruits, arc blown by (lie wind, as is a 

 parachute; they thus may reach a considerable distance from the parent, trees ; 

 such seeds are termed fugitive, Jl lujfaltitj. while heavy seeds arc unfurl live, 

 wnflugf&hig. 



