STORING REED. 687 



Good soil has a similar influence on the seed : seeds from 

 trees grown in gardens usually are larger than those from 

 forest trees ; at the commencement of fertility also the seeds 

 are larger than those from old trees, and the power of pro- 

 ducing seed is lost gradually by the latter. There are also 

 variations in the size of seeds in individual trees, even the 

 seeds in any cone vary in size and weight. 



SECTION VI. STORING THE SEEDS OF FOREST TREES. 

 1. General Account. 



Silviculture shows that it is often advantageous to delay 

 sowing seed until the spring of the year after it has ripened. 

 Seed must therefore be stored for this purpose, and if this can 

 be done without impairing its germinative power seriously, the 

 forester becomes to a certain extent independent of the 

 occurrence of seed-years. 



In general, seeds with an embryo or albumen rich in starch 

 do not preserve their germinative power so well as those which 

 contain much oil or turpentine. For under their closed 

 husks, provided water is excluded, oxidation of oil is much 

 slower than conversion of starch into gum, dextrin and sugar. 



Germinative power is lost quickly in acorns*, chestnuts and 

 beech-nuts, so that these fruits very rarely can be kept for 

 more than one winter. The same rule applies to seeds of 

 birch, elms, silver-fir and alder, which soon become mouldy 

 unless stored very carefully. Seed of ash, hornbeam, lime 

 and Cembran pine, most of which germinates only in the 

 second spring, can be stored easily. [In the case of Wey- 

 mouth-pine also, much seed does not germinate till the 

 second spring. Tr.] Lime-seed can be kept good for 2 or 3 

 years, but owing to the abundance of seed produced almost 

 every year there is no necessity to store it. Germinative 

 power is longest preserved in the seed of larch, Scots pine 

 and spruce, and experience has shown that if carefully stored, 

 larch-seed may preserve its germinative power 2 to 3 years ; 

 Scots pine seed 3 to 4 years, and spruce-seed 4 to 6 years. 



As during winter, slow chemical changes preparatory to 



* More quickly in sessile than in pedunculate acorns. 



