32 FORESTRY WORK 



Buying Seed. 



When buying seed, guarantees should be obtained from 

 the vendor as to their germinative capacity, and the 

 country or district from which they are collected. 



There is no Scots Pine seed to be bought better than 

 that collected from the forests in the North of Scotland. 

 The germination is better than that of foreign seed, and 

 the resulting plants are usually sturdier. Native Larch 

 seed, as a rule, is poor, and the liability to disease is greater 

 in plants raised from home-grown seed than that obtained 

 from the Tyrol. 



British Oak, Beech, and Common Ash, cannot be 

 beaten. 



Many large firms of seedsmen have collectors in all parts 

 of the world, and it is, as a rule, wiser to buy seed collected 

 in the country in which the tree is indigenous. 



Germinative Capacity oj Seeds, etc. 



The table (p. 33) gives a few particulars as to the number 

 of seedlings that may be expected from 1 pound of seed 

 of the more common species of trees. 



The majority of the figures in the percentage column 

 and that for strong seedlings are the results of tests which 

 I have made at different times ; only the very best seedlings 

 were counted when they were Hfted. The seeds were 

 tested by the damp-flannel method. The percentage for 

 Japanese Larch is low, but the seed may not have been 

 so good as usual in the years that it was tested, as it 

 varies considerably. Other figures given have been taken 



