FOREST TREE SEED AND SEED COLLECTING 139 



With most species the best time to collect is immediately after 

 the seed matures. This is particularly true when the seed is dis- 

 seminated shortly after ripening, and when it is likely to be 

 destroyed by birds or rodents. When the season is forward, the 

 seed may be ripe ten days or two weeks earlier than in a late 

 season. At the southern extension of a tree's range or at low 

 elevations the season for collecting may be a full month in advance' 

 of that farther north or at high elevations. The collecting of 

 coniferous seed can be safely begun as soon as the squirrels begin 

 to store their winter's seed supply. 



When the fruit is large and heavy, as in walnut, hickory, chest- 

 nut, beech, and oak, it falls to the ground beneath the parent 

 trees shortly after maturing. The first fruits to fall are invari- 

 ably wormy or otherwise inferior. Gathering should be delayed 

 until after the first heavy frost or until a large part of the fruit 

 has fallen. If delayed too long, however, squirrels and other 

 rodents destroy the best of it and collecting is correspondingly 

 expensive. 



All species which retain their unopened fruit on the tree for 

 some months after maturity permit collection at any time before 

 the natural dissemination of the seed. Jack pine, lodgepole pine, 

 and some other species retain their unopened cones for a year or 

 longer after ripening and can be collected at any time, the product 

 of two or three crops often being gathered at the same time. 

 Sycamore, holly, box elder, black locust, honey locust, catalpa, and 

 basswood retain their unopened fruit on the tree well into the 

 winter or until the following spring and can be collected in the 

 winter, or even in the early spring, often more advantageously 

 than in the autumn. Most birches also retain their seed until 

 late winter or early spring. 



5. METHODS OF COLLECTING TREE SEED 



There are three general methods of gathering the fruit and seed 

 of forest trees. 

 I a. From the ground or from a water surface. 



b. From standing or felled trees. 



c. From squirrel hoards or caches. 



In any particular case, the best method to follow depends upon 

 the species, locality, and the presence of squirrel hoards or of lum- 

 bering operations. When a large amount of seed is required it is 



