SEED-KILNS. 678 



fall : Birch, elm, ash, maple, hornbeam ; also the cones of 

 spruce, pine, silver-fir, larch, Douglas-fir, thuya, cypress and 

 alder. By sweeping off the ground, after they have fallen, 

 acorns, beech-mast, lime-seeds, cherries, species of Pyrus, 

 chestnuts, walnuts, may be collected, and wherever fugitive 

 seeds are heaped together by wind, or water (alder), they may 

 be swept up and collected. It is a destructive measure to beat 

 trees in order to cause the seeds to fall ; the worst way is to 

 collect seed from trees felled for the purpose, as is done in 

 countries which have too much forest, or where economic 

 forestry is not practised. The whole harvest is either leased, 

 or given in contract by the forest-owner for his own require- 

 ments, or permits to collect seed given to poor people. It 

 is for the manager to determine which method is the best 

 financially and does least damage to the forest. 



Fruits, seeds and twigs with the fruits attached to them, 

 taken moist from the forest, must be dried superficially in 

 places in the forest that are sheltered from rain, or under a 

 roof. By sifting and picking over, the most obvious 

 impurities are removed. The seeds of lime, hornbeam and 

 birch are placed in sacks ; by beating and shaking the sacks, 

 the seeds are freed from their husks, and by winnowing, 

 sieves, etc., they are separated from them. For heavy seeds, 

 cleaning consists in the removal of all imparities and of fruits 

 that are recognised as useless (shrivelled, perforated by insects, 

 etc.) 



Coniferous seeds require different treatment, for which a 

 special industry, termed seed-husking, has been established. 



SECTION V. SEED-HUSKING ESTABLISHMENTS. 

 1. Drying by Solar Heat. 



The cones of spruce and pines are dried by the sun in wire 

 sieves placed in echelon one above the other, so that they all 

 receive the full heat of the sun ; portable boxes with wire 

 sieve tops also are used. By shaking the sieves the seed falls 

 on to cloths, or into boxes, placed below them, or in the latter 

 case, into the boxes themselves. 



F.U. x x 



