162 



SEEDING AND PLANTING 



the kiln when operating day and night has a daily capacity 

 of 340 bushels of Douglas fir cones; the seed cleaning is in the 

 engine and repair house; and the boiler is in a separate build- 

 ing. In operating the kiln the cones are spread out on trays 

 arranged on trucks. They are moved through the preliminary 

 drying room, which is heated by the exhaust air from the kiln 





Photograph by U. S. Forest Service 



FIG. 29. Seed-extracting plant at Wyeth, Oregon. 



chamber, then to the kiln itself entering through a door at one 

 end and after drying passing out of a door at the other end. The 

 heat is from two sets of steam coils, one outside the kiln chamber 

 from which the heated air is forced into the chamber by a blower 

 through a system of pipes and the other in the chamber. When 

 the car with its trays is removed from the kiln it is sent directly 

 to the seed-cleaning room. 



During the first year's operation of this kiln over 22,000 bushels 

 of Douglas fir cones were treated l at a cost of 26 cents per pound 

 for extracting and cleaning the seed. The average daily (24 

 hours) capacity was 150 pounds of clean seed. A crew of 8 men, 

 divided into 3 shifts, was required to operate the plant. The fol- 

 lowing season, operating for a period of 108 days and extracting 

 and cleaning 11,834 pounds of seed, the cost was as follows: 



1 Kiimmel, J. F.: Operation of the Wyeth seed kiln. (Annual planting 

 report, District 6. 1911.) 



