172 SEEDING AND PLANTING 



become overdry and worthless. The best method of storage is that 

 which keeps the seed moist and at a low temperature, i.e., at freezing 

 or slightly above. 



The ordinary methods of wet or moist storage are as follows: 



a. Storage on or in the ground. 



b. Storage in running water. 



Seeds kept in moist condition over winter germinate much 

 earlier in the spring. This is often of considerable importance 

 with species like walnut, hickory, oak, and beech. Seed should 

 not be stored under moist conditions until late autumn or early 

 winter. 



37. STORAGE ON OR IN THE GROUND 



Most species that will not survive dry storage can be safely 

 stored in heaps on the ground. An accessible site should be 

 selected where the soil is loose, sandy, and well drained. The 

 area should be cleared of all vegetable matter and the fruit or 

 seed mixed with sand. Walnuts, hickory nuts, and acorns can 

 be piled in large heaps, and smaller fruits and seeds in small, low 

 heaps. They should be covered with leaves or straw and later as 

 cold weather sets in a layer of earth thrown over the covering. 

 Bundles of straw should project through the earth covering to afford 

 ventilation. Seed in wet storage is much less sensitive to cold 

 than to heat. Overheating and lack of ventilation cause them to 

 mold and decay. The earth covering should be removed early and 

 the seed sown as soon as the soil is in condition for working. 

 Losses from storage in heaps on the ground are nearly always due 

 to delay in removing the covering in the spring. Seeds that will not 

 survive dry storage are often kept over winter in excavations or 

 trenches from a few inches to 1^ feet in depth when they are 

 mixed with sand and covered with leaves or straw. 



Red oak and some species of black oaks, as well as hickory and 

 walnut, keep very well over winter in loosely-tied burlap sacks 

 placed flat on the ground and covered with soil. In order to 

 keep well under this method of storage the seed should be well 

 cured and not covered until cold weather sets in. It is not safe 

 to attempt to keep chestnuts over winter in this manner. A 

 high degree of moisture combined with low temperature can be 

 secured by spreading the fruit or seed on the ground in the shade 

 and covering it with moss, leaves, or inverted sods. Seed should 



