106 PRACTICAL FORESTRY 
seed production, but it is more than likely that the 
tree was already diseased and succumbed in the final 
great effort to leave behind the largest number of 
progeny possible. 
Large sums of money have been spent for north- 
ern seeds, especially spruce, in the hope of securing 
a vigorous, frost-hardy variety. The wisdom of this 
is doubtful, for even if frost-hardiness is secured, it is 
bought at the expense of other desirable qualities, and 
slow growth, tendency to grow twisted and crooked, 
result. Trees moved southward often suffer from 
frost more than in their native land, especially in 
youth, because in the north Nature protects her seed- 
lings by a thick mass of snow, and by hundreds of 
thousands of hardy, quick-growing birch and poplar 
nurse trees. The snow in the Adirondacks often 
falls so early that the soil never freezes throughout 
the winter. 
The farther north and the higher the altitude, 
the smaller the seed and the smaller the percentage 
of germination, although the quantity produced is 
often immense. 
Seeds from trees of a moist climate, sown in a 
moderately dry climate, do not produce thrifty plants, 
while it is quite the reverse of seeds which have been 
collected in a dry climate, and sown in one which is 
moist. For instance, seeds of Douglas-fir for plant- 
