46 PRACTICAL PLANT PROPAGATION 



therewith. For the grower who is desirous of continually improving 

 the type and controlling the source of his supply of seed, the first 

 thing is to build up a list of local seed collectors in various parts of 

 the country, and then educate them to get what you want. It is 

 not an easy task, I assure you. The ordinary woodsman is not 

 acquainted with the various varieties, and the differences between 

 the Fir and the Spruce mean but little to him. It requires a great 

 deal of patience. You must be willing to pay for his mistakes; 

 sometimes he collects the cones too early and the seed is worthless; 

 another time he waits until the seed has fallen from the cones and 

 the operation is a failure. 



We have had collectors ship several hundred pounds of Juniperus 

 berries, and not one berry in the entire consignment contained a 

 live germ. It requires two years for the berries of some of the 

 Juniper varieties to develop into maturity. The ripe, matured ber- 

 ries are a deep purple in color, and usually located back among the 

 foliage near the center of the tree, while the green, immature berries 

 are out on the tips of the branches, and are the ones that the col- 

 lector will naturally gather. It is a good plan to keep in touch with 

 your collector throughout the entire year. Write to him often; 

 ask him to send samples of the young cones, even though tlje 

 samples are worthless and of no value; it helps to keep his interest up. 



COLLECTING THE CONES 



It is found that there are three methods of collecting cones: 

 from felled trees, from standing trees and from the squirrel hoards. 

 Where logging is going on, it is often possible to pick cones from 

 the felled trees on the ground after the brush is piled. In collecting 

 from standing trees it may or may not be necessary to climb. 

 Cones can often be stripped from short limbed trees by cone hooks 

 fastened to poles, or even picked off by hand. Squirrels' caches are 

 often excellent places from which to get cones; Pine squirrels collect 

 and store large quantities. The squirrels do not put by seed for 

 Winter only, but continue to collect as long as the supply lasts and 

 the weather permits. It is not uncommon to find in a single one 

 of their caches from eight bushels to twelve bushels of good cones. 

 These caches are located in hollow logs, springy places, and muck, 

 as well as under bushes and felled tree tops. The squirrels do not 

 confine their collecting to a few species, but appear to relish a large 

 variety. Among the species of cones which are often obtained from 

 the squirrels' hoard, are Douglas Fir, Engelmann Spruce, Blue 



