EXTRACTING AND CLEANING FOREST TREE SEED. 11. 



Tents. Large tents with high walls make fair drying rooms; 

 12 by 16 foot or 16 by 20 foot tents with 5 or 6 foot walls may. be 

 used, but larger tents have given the most satisfactory results. Dry- 

 ing is more difficult in tents than in buildings, but the former have 

 the great advantage of being readily transported from place to place 

 where cones are collected. Ordinarily the largest tents are used for 

 drying and smaller tents for storing and extracting. 



Stoves. Small, temporary drying rooms are almost invariably 

 heated by stoves. In buildings, box stoves equipped with drums have 

 been generally used with satisfactory results. In tents, low, conical 

 stoves have been more frequently used, but, as a rule, with poorer 

 results. They are cheap and easily put up, but require constai/t 

 attention. Empty cones will not burn well in them. These are 

 serious drawbacks, and the use of box stoves with drums is prefareble. 



Drying trays. The cones are usually spread in trays with wire bot- 

 toms arranged in racks along the sides of the room or tent. Trays 

 are generally made of 2 by 4 inch material, and vary in size from 

 2 by 3 to 3 by 4 feet. The larger trays are used only with lighter 

 cones, since they are more difficult to handle, especially where space 

 is limited. The bottom of the tray is wire netting, usually with a 

 | -inch mesh for lodgepole pine and with a f-inch mesh for species 

 with larger cones. Twelve square feet of tray space hold approxi- 

 mately 1 bushel of cones, spread thinly. 



Cones may also be spread on pieces of wire netting stretched hori- 

 zontally between the racks at intervals of 6 or 8 inches, with a vertical 

 strip at each end to prevent them from falling on the floor when 

 raked. Handling the cones is more difficult with this method, and 

 the apparatus is less easily transported from one place to another. 

 With either method a strip of canvas should be spread on the floor to 

 catch the seeds as they fall through the netting, unless the floor 

 is so smooth that seed can readily be swept from it without the 

 use of canvas. It is essential that the trays be far enough apart 

 to permit ample circulation of air. There should be a liberal supply 

 of high registering thermometers to keep an accurate record of the 

 temperature in different parts of the drying room. 



FIRE PRECAUTIONS. 



With the high temperature and dry air prevailing in the kiln room, 

 extreme precaution must be taken to prevent fire. Where water 

 pressure is available, a hose should always be connected and ready 

 for use. Chemical fire extinguishers should be secured as additional 

 safeguards. If neither of these measures is practicable, several 

 buckets should be kept filled with water, to be instantly available. 



