S Y L' V ICULTURE. 



It is essential that the heat in the coning room should not reach 

 110 degrees. Thorough ventilation is required to prevent sweating 

 and moulding of cones. The cones are spread in the coning-room in 

 thin layers on shelves or screens, through the interstices of which the 

 seeds drop. The cones are stirred three or four times a day. 



It is unwise to have the stove in the coning-room. An American 

 hot-air furnace in the basement is well adapted to furnish the heat. 



Many of the large European forestry administrations have such 

 or similar establishments for coning. 



c. Commercial method. 



In the commercial establishments, heat is supplied by steam 

 pipes, controlled by automatic devices. The trays or drums are kept 

 in a constant rocking motion by machinery. The seeds, after falling 

 through the crevices of the trays, are at once conducted to a cool 

 room. 



II. Separating seeds from their wings. 



In the case of Pine and Spruce seeds, nailing is sufficient. It 

 is not advisable to wet the seeds before flailin*. For Larch, rubber 

 millstones are used, the distance between the stones being equal 

 to the smallest diameter of the seed. 



III. Cleaning the seed from dust, needles and wings. The seeds 

 are freed from admixtures by fanning, shoveling, centrifuge or any 

 grain-cleaning machine. The large commercial establishments drop 

 the seeds on endless rolls of cloth, which are moving on an incline. 

 The heavy seeds slide down, whilst dust and wings are carried uphill. 



IV. Statistical notes. 



a. Spruce in the Adirondacks (after Clifford R. Pettis). 



1. Cosv of picking cones 50c per bushel (green). 



2. One bushel of green cones yields two bushels of dry cones, 

 containing 1% Ibs. equal to 1% qts. of Spruce seeds. - 



3. One bushel of cones weighs 60 Ibs., one bushel of seeds 40 Ibs. 



4. One pound of seed contains 150,000 grains. 



5. It costs 95c to collect, cone and clean one pound of seeds. 



b. White Pine at Biltmore. 



1. 100 bushels of cones will weigh 2,200 Ibs. (a "long ton"). 



2. One bushel contains 600 to 700 cones, and yields, on an 

 average, V 2 Ib. of absolutely clean, wingless seeds. 



3. One pound of such seed contains 25,000 to 30,000 grains. 



c. Yellow Pine (ponderosa) in New Mexico (after Wm. H. Mast). 



1. One bushel of cones yields 1.55 Ibs. of clean seed. 



2. The expense of collecting, coning and cleaning averages 23c 

 per pound. 



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