1904 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION 



,11 



no time is lost in dislodging cones that 

 have been caught in falling. 



A portion of the red fir cones were 

 dried and opened by the same method 

 as employed for the pifion pine. How-- 

 ever, opening cones by artificial heat is 

 not satisfactory. Where there is bright 

 sunny weather and the cones have 

 reached the proper stage of maturity 

 before being gathered, they will open 

 within a few days by sunning. If they 

 can be placed on the south side of a 

 building where they will receive some 

 reflected heat they will open still more 

 rapidly. I believe the change of tem- 

 perature due to the cooling at night to 

 be beneficial. 



\Vhitefir (Abies concolor} . The white 

 fir trees were found in the side canyons 

 and sometimes in the bottom of the main 

 canyons. The cones in nearly all cases, 

 especially on the young trees, are found 

 in thick clusters at the tops of the trees. 

 As it was dangerous for the picker to 

 climb so near the top of the tree, he was 

 provided with a steel hook on a long 

 handle to cut or break off the cones. 



The cones were taken in sacks to the 

 drying-room, where they were dried by 

 artificial heat and the seed removed by 

 passing the cones over a sieve. A sieve 

 with a quarter-inch square mesh allowed 

 the seed to go through, but kept back 

 the cone-scales. By use of a sieve of 

 ordinary window screen and by a small 

 amount of winnowing, the dust and resin 

 were taken out. 



Limber pine (Finns flexilis}. Only a 

 small amount of limber pine seed was 

 obtained. To secure cones it was neces- 

 sary to climb the seed tree and break 

 them off with the hands or knock them 

 off with a stick. The seed of this species 

 was also removed by artificial heat. 

 However, only a small amount was re- 

 quired, as the cones were over-ripe when 

 collected. In fact, some of the seed had 

 already fallen from them before they 

 reached the drying-room. Limber pine 

 cones are usually ripe enough to be col- 

 lected early in September, and the seed 

 is very easily expelled when they com- 

 mence to open. The trees of this species 

 are not plentiful in the region of Glorieta, 

 and those found were bearing only a 

 partial crop this year. 



Blue spruce (Picea parryana} . In this 

 region the blue spruce does not appear 

 below an altitude of 9,000 feet. Like 

 the limber pine, it also ripens early. 



As it was impossible for me to secure 

 cones at the time of ripening, a man was 

 sent into the woods in the latter part of 

 October to get cones which had been cut 

 down and burrowed by the squirrels. 

 Several of the squirrels' storehouses 

 were found, and 7^ bushels of cones 

 taken from them. These cones had been 

 cut down at the proper time and covered 

 with moist leaves, so that they were still 

 closed and in excellent condition. A 

 few days' drying in the sun was sufficient 

 to open them. The seed was jarred out 

 by flailing, and then run through a 

 fanning mill to clean it. 



Western yellow pine (Finns ponde- 

 rosa). The collecting of the western 

 yellow pine seed was deferred till there 

 could be no doubt about the cones being 

 entirely ripe. A few cones were col- 

 lected between October i and October 

 10, but collecting was properly com- 

 menced October 12, when half a dozen 

 men began work. A few days later 

 more than twenty-five laborers were col- 

 lecting. Nearly all the cones were 

 collected between October 12 and 26. 

 Of the i , 1 20 bushels of cones collected, 

 over 800 bushels came from trees grow- 

 ing on land held by private individuals ; 

 the remainder were gathered on the 

 Pecos River Forest Reserve. The own- 

 ers of land felled trees, picked the cones 

 from them, and later cut the trees into 

 ties and cord- wood. The men were paid 

 20 cents per bushel for cones delivered 

 at the drying grounds. 



The cones were fully ripe, and as there 

 were far too many of them to attempt 

 drying by artificial heat, they were 

 spread on the bare rocks and on the 

 ground to open. On account of the lack 

 of space on the rocks in the vicinity to 

 allow the cones to be spread out thinly, 

 a large drying floor was prepared on an 

 old threshing floor. This was a level 

 dirt floor, about 40 by 50 feet, which 

 had not been used for several years. 

 The surface was cleaned of weeds and 

 loose dirt, then well soaked with water, 

 and a herd of goats driven back and 

 forth over it till it was dry and hard. 



