FOREST TREE SEED AND SEED COLLECTING 



99 



following germination. The larger size of California seed is 

 due to the need for a larger supply of reserve food in the 

 seed to enable the young seedling to develop rapidly a deep root 

 system. 



The size of the seed within the species is so variable that data 

 giving the average number of seeds per pound should not be 

 followed blindly. 



Cox * gives the following as the approximate number of seeds 

 per pound for a number of economic species: 



.Species. 



Number of 

 seeds per pound. 



Douglas fir 43,000 



Western yellow pine: 



Pacific coast 9,100 



New Mexico 16,000 



Black Hills 13,500 



Engelmann spruce 175,000 



Sugar pine 2,400 



Jeffrey pine 3,100 



Lodgepole pine 120,000 



Sitka spruce 400,000 



Western red cedar 400,000 



Western white pine 28,000 



White pine (New York) 26,000 



Red pine 55,000 



Mexican white pine 2,700 



Arizona cypress 100,000 



Bigtree 75,000 



Noble fir 15,400 



Grand fir 20,000 



Amabilis fir 13,700 



California red fir 67,000 



Scotch pine 69,000 



Austrian pine 24,000 



Norway spruce 54,000 



Maritime pine 9,450 



The figures given below are from counts extending over a 

 period of ten years. They were made at the Yale School of 

 Forestry from seed obtained from commercial sources. In all cases 

 the figures represent averages, often of twenty or more lots of seed 

 collected in different localities and at different times. Although 

 it is appreciated that this table cannot be followed blindly, it will 



1 Cox, W. T. : Reforestation on the national forests. (U. S. Forest Service, 

 Bui. 98, p. 24. 1911.) 



