SYLVICULTURE 37 



connected strips difficult or impossible. By its means a 

 species may be brought into mixture with others already on 

 the ground. For very broken land or peat moors, where 

 soil is conveyed to each planting spot at much cost, patch- 

 planting is the only method suitable. 



As the area cultivated is less than by strips, preparation of 

 the soil by patches is cheaper, though not quite proportion- 

 ately so. 



Collection of Seeds 



In part, seeds can be collected in the woods locally, or 

 they may be obtained from a seed-merchant. The former 

 means is preferable in the case of those seeds which should 

 be sown shortly after ripening, viz. Silver Fir, Elm, Oak, 

 and Beech ; but Scots Pine, Spruce, Larch, and Weymouth 

 Pine seed must usually be bought, as the cones have to be 

 treated in seed-kilns. 



Storing of Seeds 



In the storing of seeds certain difficulties present them- 

 selves. The seeds of some species must be kept dry, others 

 moist ; a few lose their vitality if stored for a few weeks 

 only, others require a year or more to germinate. The method 

 of storage must vary with the nature of the seed. Many 

 seeds, including those of conifers, are stored in sacks or 

 barrels, in cool, airy lofts. Ash and Hornbeam seeds which 

 remain inactive for eighteen months can be preserved in well- 

 drained trenches in the soil, or they may be mixed with 

 damp sand and stored in boxes under cover. Acorns and 

 beech-nuts, when these are to be sown in spring, lie during 

 winter in low, closed-in sheds that have preferably earthen 

 floors, and there they are turned over every three weeks or so. 

 After being gathered, acorns and beech-nuts, previous to their 

 being stored, should be spread out on an airy place to a depth 

 of about eight inches, and daily turned until dry. They can 

 afterwards be mixed with sand to remain in the sheds in 

 heaps about one foot deep. 



