92 SEEDING AND PLANTING 



It should be emphasized that a large percentage of the failures, 

 both in nursery practice and direct seeding, is due to poor seed. 



5. The Origin of the Seed in Relation to Quality 



We do not adequately appreciate the great importance at- 

 tached to the source from which forest tree seed is obtained. 

 The common practice of collecting seed from trees exhibiting all 

 degrees of inherent defects and from all localities within the tree's 

 range is condemned. Although trees of extreme youth and old 

 age may yield excellent seed, it is uniformly of the highest quality 

 when collected from vigorous trees in middle life. The age of 

 the parent tree is not so important a factor as is its condition 

 resulting from climate, soil, and inherent defects. The climate and 

 soil of the region where the seed of a species of wide distribution 

 is collected should not essentially differ from those where the seed 

 is sown. The seed of western yellow pine collected in New Mexico 

 and Arizona should not be used north of Colorado or on the Pacific 

 coast. The seed of Douglas fir from Washington and Oregon 

 should not be sown in the Rocky Mountain region or eastward, 

 although seed of this species collected in Colorado produces hardy 

 seedlings eastward to New England. 



For many years there has been a diversity of opinion among 

 foresters regarding the influence of the locality and the char- 

 acteristics of the mother tree upon the resulting crop. Recent 

 investigations in Europe clearly prove that variations in the charac- 

 teristics of the mother tree due to soil and climate may be transmitted 

 through the seed. To what extent the origin of the seed influences 

 the growth, resistance, and form of forest crops is of vast impor- 

 tance. In order to secure more precise information on this sub- 

 ject many of the forest experiment stations in Europe have given 

 special attention to it during the past two decades. Seed of Scotch 

 pine, Norway spruce, and other species has been secured from 

 mother trees growing under a wide variation of soil and climatic 

 conditions. The characteristics of the mother trees were carefully 

 noted and the seed sown under uniform conditions, in order that 

 variations in the resulting trees due to the origin of the seed might 

 be accurately compared. The trees grown from this seed in Ger- 

 many, Austria, France, and Switzerland are now sufficiently ad- 

 vanced to permit of definite conclusions on many of the points 

 involved. 



