18 



REFORESTATION ON THE NATIONAL FORESTS. 



they will be carried away and cached again by the industrious 

 animals. 



Collecting from squirrel hoards has two important advantages 

 over the other methods, in that it can be carried on after the cones 

 on the trees are open, while at the same time a high grade of cones 

 is obtained. In one instance 610 bushels of lodgepole pine cones 

 were collected from squirrel caches on the Targhee National Forest, 

 at an average cost of 18 cents a bushel, one man collecting 16 J 

 bushels a day. During the fall of 1908, 1,137 bushels of yellow-pine 

 cones were collected from caches on the Boise National Forest after 

 the cones on the trees had opened. During the early part of Octo- 

 ber, 1910, a collection of lodgepole pine cones was made from 

 squirrel caches on the North Fork of the Shoshone River, Wyo. 

 The average quantity of cones found in each hoard was 2 bushels, 

 and the maximum in one hoard 7 bushels. Ranger labor was used 

 entirely, and pack horses brought the cones to camp as soon as 

 gathered. The cost per bushel for gathering and hauling to head- 

 quarters, a distance of 23 miles, was 60 cents. 



With those cones which open rapidly, care must be taken to put 

 them in a damp place as soon as picked, so that they will not open 

 and allow the seed to escape before the work of extraction begins. 



COST OF SEED GATHERING. 



During the autumn of 1910 the Forest Service collected 107,780 

 pounds of native tree seed and purchased 54,100 pounds of the seed 

 of European species, a total of 161,880 pounds. The average cost 

 per pound of that gathered by the Forest Service in 1909 and 1910 

 is shown by species in the following list: 



Douglas fir $1.20 



Yellow pine .80 



Lodgepole pine 4.00 



Engelmann spruce 3.00 



Western white pine 1. 25 



Jeffrey pine $0. 50 



Sugar pine .85 



Coulter pine 1. 



Incense cedar 1.20 



Western red cedar __ 2. 00 



Yellow-pine seed has been collected by the Forest Service for much 

 less than 80 cents a pound during good seed years for the species. 

 With the improved methods employed in seed collection, it is rea- 

 sonable to expect that the cost of collecting tree seed of all kinds 

 will be greatly reduced within the next year or two. Table 2 shows 

 the average price per pound asked by seed dealers. 



