146 AMERICAN FORESTRY 



LOCATING THE CROP. 



Coniferous trees do not produce a full crop of seed every year, but only 

 periodically, as every two, three, or four years. In a year when the production 

 of seed by a certain species is very large, commonly called a "good seed year,'' 

 the heavy production will extend over a very extensive area, as for example, 

 an entire state. In other years the same species may produce a full crop, or 

 nearly so, over a much more limited area. For instance, the yellow pine has 

 been found to produce a heavy crop of seed on a certain small watershed, 

 when little or no seed at all could be found on other yellow pine trees outside 

 of the particularly favored locality. During the past season, seed of Douglas 

 fir in Colorado could be found in large quantities upon only one or two of the 

 eighteen national forests in that state, although in 1909 its seed production 

 was fairly widespread through the state. The fact that the production of 

 seed is very ai)t to be localized makes it necessary every year to search the 

 forests for the much desired crop. On the national forests the Rangers, each 

 for his respective district, scour the forests to ascertain upon what water- 

 sheds, large or small, the trees of the desired kind are bearing seed. 



The seed of the important conifers is borne in a cone (whence the name), 

 and with the pines it requires two years for these cones to grow to maturity, 

 while with the other species (spruces and firs) only one year is required. The 

 new cones begin to form in the spring of the year, shortly after the year's 

 growth begins. Thus the forest rangers can begin to locate and take stock 

 of the year's seed crop during June, July, and August, although the crop 

 will not be mature until September or early in October. Each ranger 

 makes a report upon the kind and size of the seed crop upon his district 

 early in the summer, and plans are laid well in advance for gathering in the 

 crop. 



TIME AND METHODS OF COLLECTING CONES 



The seed crop matures naturally about the time of the first frosts in the 

 fall, and in the mountains this time varies, of course, with the altitude. In 

 the case of the desirable species, the cones open naturally while still upon 

 the tree and release their seed. Accordingly, collectors must gather the 

 cones before they open naturally, otherwise the seed w^ould be lost. Since 

 the seed are ripe in the cones for some little time before they are released 

 naturally, it is possible to gather the cones with the seed in them. Collecting 

 has been started as early as September 1, and continued as late as October 20, 

 though this period varies somewhat with the season. 



The cones which contain the seed, then, are what is collected, and not 

 the seed itself. There are several methods of collecting the cones, which shall 

 be described briefly, as follows: (1) climbing trees and picking; (2) picking 

 from the ground, from low scrubby trees; (3) picking from felled trees; (4) 

 collecting from squirrel hoards. 



I. Climbing trees and picking: When the cones are gathered by this 

 method, the collector is usually equipped with a pair of "climbers" like those 

 ordinarily used in climbing telephone poles. The cones may be i)icked by 

 hand from the branches, but more commonly the collector uses a sharp steel 

 hook fastened securely to the end of a light pole about six feet long. With 

 this hook he can cut the cones from the more remote branches or draw 

 the smaller branches toward him so as to reach the cones by hand. As the 

 cones are picked or cut off, they are dropped to the ground, to be gathered up 

 later into sacks, or an assistant on the ground gathers them as fast as they 

 fall. The quantity of cones which can be collected per day in this manner 

 varies a great deal, depending primarily upon the abundance of the cones. 

 Col lectors have actually gathered from two to five bushels of yellow pine 



