i8o 



Canadian Forestry Journal, April, ip20. 



HOW LONG WILL TREE SEED KEEP ITS 

 GERMINATING POWER? 



Answered for the Forestry Journal by B. R. Morton 

 Dominion Forestry Branch, Ottawa 



With reference to your enquiry re- 

 gardinjTf the germination of tree seed. 

 I might say that the seed of different 

 species have a wide range in kee])ing 

 and germination quahties. A number 

 of coniferous and broad-leaved species 

 that mature in the autumn do not 

 under natural conditions, germinate 

 the following spring, but lie dormant 

 in the ground and germinate one or 

 two years later. Some of the pines 

 and junipers germinate very slowly. 

 'The western white pine may lie in 

 the ground for several months before 

 more than a small percentage begins 

 to show. Red cedar requires a year 

 or longer. Honey and yellow locust 

 also lie for a long time. White spruce 

 seed during a dry season will lie over 

 until the second year. Larch is also 

 irregular and rriay lie over a year. In 

 general, species in which the seed is 

 protected by a thin absorbent cover- 

 ing usually germinate within a few 

 weeks after sowing. Those with thick* 

 hard or leathery covering, such as the 

 nuts, are slower and more irreguar. 

 Seed of such species as the white elm 

 red maple, silver maple, poplars and 

 willow, remain alive but a few weeks 

 after ripening. They mature their seed 

 in the late spring and early summer, 

 and should be sown at once. Other 

 species like the chestnut, hickory 

 walnut, oak, beech and ash, lose much 

 of their germinating power if dry 

 stored. They should be planted in 

 the fall, or if it is necessary to hold 

 them over until the spring, they 

 should be layered between moist sand. 

 As a rule the drier a seed becomes in 

 storage the longer will germination 

 be delayed after sowing. Nuts dry 

 stored over winter Avill often live 

 over until the second year when 

 planted. The seed of most coniferous 

 species may be safely dry stored in a 

 cool place. 



REVIVAL OF TOPIARY. 



(London Times.) 



Topiary, or the art of tree-sculp- 

 ture, has experienced a great revival 

 during the last thirty years, and many 

 gardens nowadays boast their spirals, 

 pyramids, birds, and so on, grown 

 and cut in yew and box. An expert 

 whose nurseries at Richmond contain 

 some 3,000 picked specimens, states 

 that the trees are very slow growing, 

 and that the best specimens are pro- 

 duced by the patient Dutch, whose 

 soil and climate are very suitable. 

 Trees grown in Holland are quite 

 hardy in this country, and require 

 clipping but once a year. Birds, with- 

 out base, take about ten or twelve 

 years to grow, and dogs from twelve 

 to twenty years, while other subjects 

 requiring anything from ten to ninety 

 years, include peacocks, serpents and 

 serpentine columns, tables, armchairs, 

 sitting hens, geese and ducks, dogs 

 (with and without kennels), ships, 

 horses and pigs. One man in the 

 north has his crest, a pelican feeding 

 - her young, grown in yew. 



The subject must be correctly form- 

 ed, very thick and bushy, and free 

 from decayed wood and leaves. For 

 this reason the trees are only grown 

 from one stem, so that all parts shall 

 be equally nourished. 



MUST PAY FOR TREES. 



In a judgment rendered by the 

 First Division of the Court of Re- 

 view, the Bell Telephone Company of 

 Canada was condemned to pay the 

 Country Club of Montreal $592.01 

 damages in compensation for the cut- 

 ting of a number of trees on their pro- 

 perty situated at St. Lambert. This 

 judgment reversed one of the Superior 

 Court, and the Bell Telephone Com- 

 pany was also condemned to pay the 

 costs in two courts. 



