First the Seed, Then the Tree 



moving wings or light chaff from many 

 kinds of seeds. Sometimes empty seeds 

 also are fanned out. Small lots can be 

 cleaned by passing them from one con- 

 tainer to another in the wind or in 

 front of a fan. Large lots usually are 

 run through standard agricultural 

 seed fanning or cleaning mills. Unless 

 fanning is done skillfully, either too 

 much debris will remain or too many 

 good seeds will be blown out. 



Seeds of most pulpy or fleshy fruits 

 can be cleaned most effectively by flo- 

 tation in water. Sound seeds usually 

 sink, whereas poor seeds, skins, and 

 pulp either float or sink more slowly. 

 Freshly gathered acorns often are 

 separated from the cups and weeviled 

 fruits by flotation in water. Loblolly 

 pine seeds can be cleaned better by 

 flotation in water than by fanning. 

 Prompt drying after such wetting is 

 essential. 



To determine the amount of fruit 

 needed for specific sowing or market 

 requirements, it is necessary to know 

 the extraction factor. 



The amount of cleaned seeds pro- 

 duced per 100 pounds of fruit as 

 usually collected ranges from 30 to 50 

 pounds for many species, and may 

 range from 1 to nearly 100 pounds, as 

 shown below: 



One to five pounds : Apples, arborvi- 

 taes, red chokeberry, cucumbertree, 

 golden currant, Douglas-fir, firs, hem- 

 locks, honeysuckles, black huckleberry, 

 California incense-cedar, inkberry, the 

 larches, common lilac, mountain-ashes, 

 the mulberries, Osage-orange, common 

 pear, pines, raspberries, serviceberries, 

 common snowberry, spruces, mahog- 

 any sumac. 



Six to ten pounds : Glossy buckthorn, 

 silver buffaloberry, black chokeberry, 

 the elders, firs, honeysuckle, mountain- 

 holly, western snowberry, skunkbush 

 sumac, sweetfern, sweetgum, American 

 sycamore, yellow-poplar. 



Eleven to twenty pounds : Japanese 

 barberry, bearberry, chamaecyparises, 

 cherries, devils-walkingstick, elders, 

 euonymuses, riverbank grape, shell- 

 bark hickory, pawpaw, Siberian pea- 



shrub, common persimmon, plums, 

 redwood, Russian-olive, common sea- 

 buckthorn, common spicebush, sugar 

 sumac, common winterberry. 



Twenty-one to forty pounds : Ailan- 

 thus, apricot, Japanese barberry, 

 American beech, boxelder, most buck- 

 thorns, butternut, the gum bumelia, 

 catalpas, cherries, Kentucky coff eetree, 

 Virginia creeper, desertwillow, dog- 

 woods, American filbert, fringetree, 

 shagbark hickory, shellbark hickory, 

 American holly, honeylocust, eastern 

 hophornbeam, junipers, common ju- 

 jube, locusts, mountain-mahoganies, 

 common persimmon, eastern redbud, 

 Russian-olive, common sea-buckthorn, 

 silktree, western soapberry, smooth 

 sumac, staghorn sumac. 



Forty-one to sixty pounds: Ailan- 

 thus, indigobush amorpha, baldcy- 

 press, boxelder, Kentucky coffeetree, 

 desertwillow, elms, European filbert, 

 mockernut hickory, Norway maple, 

 sugar maple, oaks, pecan, Fremont 

 silktassel, smooth sumac, black walnut, 

 little walnut, southern waxmyrtle. 



Sixty-one to eighty pounds: Ailan- 

 thus, ashes, boxelder, lilac chaste-tree, 

 bitternut hickory, mockernut hickory, 

 pignut hickory, lindens, sugar maple, 

 Tatarian maple, oaks, pecan. 



Eighty-one to one hundred pounds : 

 Ailanthus, bitternut hickory, pignut 

 hickory, black maple, red maple, sugar 

 maple, oaks, laurel sumac. 



STORAGE VARIES considerably. Forest 

 seeds seldom are sown immediately 

 after extraction and cleaning. Com- 

 monly they are extracted in the fall 

 and held over winter. Often, too, they 

 must be held for several years because 

 some species produce good crops in- 

 frequently. In either case the seeds 

 should be stored so as to maintain high 

 viability. For some species this is a 

 simple matter; for others it is quite 

 difficult, and for many, suitable storage 

 practices are not yet known. 



The simplest and oldest method of 

 storage is to hold the seeds at air tem- 

 peratures either in sacks or, preferably, 

 in sealed containers. Storage may be 



