150 SEEDING AND PLANTING 



the soil is cold and damp, the drying is facilitated by raising the 

 canvas upon a platform that permits the free circulation of air 

 beneath. The cones should be thoroughly stirred and raked over 

 each day in order to attain uniformity in drying. When all the 

 cones are open, the seed which has not already rattled out must 

 be dislodged by some system of jarring. 



The rapidity and evenness of drying depend largely upon the 

 care exercised in handling the cones. As soon as they arrive at the 

 drying ground, they should be removed from the sacks, particularly 

 if the weather is warm and the cones moist, or they are likely to 

 mold which makes drying difficult. Canvas drying sheets 12 X 14 

 feet are the most convenient size. From 8 to 10 bushels of cones 

 can be spread on one of these sheets at a time. The drying ground 

 should be level and smooth, fully exposed to the sun and the free 

 sweep of the wind. The rapidity of drying depends entirely upon 

 weather conditions. If drying is delayed until the late autumn 

 rains or until winter sets in, solar drying becomes a task of contin- 

 ually increasing difficulty and uncertainty. Drying should begin 

 as soon as the first cones are collected. 



When good drying weather prevails it is usually less expensive 

 to open cones by solar heat than by artificial heat. In most regions, 

 however, the uncertainties of the weather during the autumn 

 months has caused less dependence to be placed upon solar heat and 

 more upon artificial heat. Moreover, certain conifers as illustrated 

 in red pine, jack pine, lodgepole pine, knobcone pine, pitch pine, 

 and the Monterey pine are so irregular and tardy in opening even 

 under full sunlight that it is not ordinarily practical to attempt to 

 open them on a large scale by solar heat. 



From 3 to 14 days of good drying weather are required to open 

 the cones of white pine, western yellow pine, Douglas fir, and Engel- 

 mann spruce. When drying by solar heat has become unduly 

 delayed or when the weather is unfavorable, the more expensive 

 method of artificial drying must be resorted to or the cones must 

 be stored until the following spring. 



Stored cones are quickly opened by solar heat during the first 

 warm days of spring. If the cones are kept dry over winter, 

 many open in storage without exposure to the direct rays of the 

 sun. The cones are stored in bins, erected on a tight floor and 

 protected by a projecting rainproof roof (Fig. 27). 



