128 



lection and extraction, however, seeds 

 fall into three groups: 



1. True seeds readily extracted from 

 dry fruits. Included in this group are 

 trees whose seeds are borne in cones 

 (fir, hemlock, larch, pine) or in fruits 

 that split open, such as pods (honey- 

 locust, locust, yellowwood), or in cap- 

 sules (e. g., the fremontia, poplar, wil- 

 low) . Commercial seed is almost always 

 the true seed. 



2. Dry fruits with seeds surrounded, 

 by a tightly adhering fruit wall. In- 

 cluded are species whose seeds are 

 borne in achenes (clematis, cliffrose, 

 eriogonum) , the nuts (chestnut, filbert, 

 oak), and samaras, or key fruits (ash, 

 elm, maple) . Because it is hard to do 

 so, seeds of this group are seldom ex- 

 tracted from the fruits. For all practi- 

 cal purposes the entire fruit is the seed. 



3. Seeds of fleshy fruits. Included 

 are species whose seeds are borne in 

 accessory fruits ( buffaloberry, winter- 

 green), aggregate fruits (raspberry), 

 the berries (barberry, currant, honey- 

 suckle), the drupes (cherry, dogwood, 

 plum, walnut), multiple, or collective 

 fruits (mulberry, Osage-orange), or 

 pomes (apple, pear). 



To SUPPLY the needs of the seed 

 trade and reforestation, large quanti- 

 ties of tree seeds must be collected, 

 extracted, and stored every year. 



In scouting out supplies, the seed 

 collector should keep eight points in 

 mind: 



1. The parent plants should be of 

 desirable form and development. 



2. Trees whose crowns receive light 

 from above and the sides usually pro- 

 duce the bulk of the seed crop. 



3. The flowering habit determines 

 which trees will produce seeds and the 

 part of the crown in which they are 

 borne. 



4. Estimates based on actual count 

 of fruits on representative trees or on 

 small sample plots well distributed 

 over the collecting area are most re- 

 liable. 



5. "Tree seed farms," set aside in 

 mature stands of particularly good de- 



Yearboo^ of Agriculture 1949 



velopment or plantations of known 

 good seed source, which produce seed 

 in reasonable abundance, will provide 

 desirable local collecting areas. 



6. The tree seed-crop reporting serv- 

 ices, available in some regions, tell the 

 collector where good local crops are. 



7. The soundness of seeds in indi- 

 vidual localities, or even on individual 

 plants, should be tested. 



8. Next year's potential crop can be 

 estimated from the number of first- 

 year fruits for such trees as the pines, 

 black oaks, and others which require 

 2 years to mature their fruits. 



RIPENESS of the seed and the length 

 of time it may remain on the plant or 

 on the ground without deterioration or 

 injury determine the time of collection. 

 Collectors usually judge the ripeness of 

 fruits by their general appearance, 

 color, degree of "milkiness" of the seed, 

 hardness of the seed coat, their attrac- 

 tiveness to animals, or some combina- 

 tion of these factors. For some pines, 

 ripeness can be determined more ac- 

 curately by the floatability of freshly 

 picked cones in motor oil, kerosene, or 

 other liquids. 



The exact time for starting seed 

 gathering must be determined for each 

 species in each locality each year. How- 

 ever, the general season in which to 

 make collections is known for a great 

 many species, some of which are: 



Spring: Berlandier ash, river birch, 

 cottonwoods, elms (except Chinese), 

 red maple and silver maple, poplars, 

 and the willows. 



Summer: Bigcone-spruce, cherries, 

 Douglas-fir, elders, alpine larch, mag- 

 nolias, red maple, mulberries, Siberian 

 pea-shrub, plums, serviceberries, Cali- 

 fornia sycamore. 



Fall : The ashes (except Berlandier) , 

 beeches, bigcone-spruce, birches (ex- 

 cept river birch), boxelder, catalpas, 

 cherries, Douglas-fir, Chinese elm, firs, 

 hickories, junipers, the larches ( except 

 alpine), magnolias, maples (except 

 the red and silver), oleasters, Osage- 

 orange, pecan, most pines, plums, 

 spruces, sycamores, walnuts. 



