550 HARVKSTINO FRUITS AND SEEDS OF FOREST TREKS 



and nmples, elms, alder, larch, silvei-tii' and lime fructify 

 almost every year. The hornbeam frequently fructifies 

 successively for three or four years, and ahvays in abundance. 

 So with the birch, whilst the larch and silver-fir fructify almost 

 every year, it being rare for 3 years to pass without silver-fir 

 seed. At the same time these two conifers are more frequently 

 sterile for one or two years than the above-mentioned broad- 

 leaved species. Difterent species vary in the abundance of seed 

 produced in a seed-year. Beech, elms, Scotch pine and spruce 

 are the most fruitful ; birch, hornbeam, oaks, sycamore and 

 other maples, alder, silver-fir, Cembran pine produce a mode- 

 rate amount of seed, whilst ash and larch produce seed 

 scantily. 



The quality of the seed depends less on the species of tree 

 and the locality than on the state of the weather and age of the 

 trees. The fruits which fall earliest, and cones of old trees 

 (spruce for instance) are generally sterile. 



2. Season of Maturity and Fall of Seed. 



Most seeds ripen earlier or later in the autumn, according to 

 the nature of the locality and the state of the weather during 

 summer. Fruit usually ripens on north and east aspects later 

 than on warmer ones ; dry localities and hot summers expedite 

 maturity, but frequently not to the advantage of the seed 

 harvest, as there are then more sterile seeds than under opposite 

 conditions and insects do greater damage. 



Acorns usually ripen at the end of September, and fall fiom 

 the trees with the first frost, usually about the beginning of 

 October. Sessile oaks ripen their acorns somewhat later than 

 pedunculate oaks [and should be collected separately owing to 

 the great sylvicultural differences between the trees. — Tr.]. 

 The sterile and grub- eaten acorns which fall first soon decay if 

 the weather is at all damp, turn black, and may be easily 

 recognized and rejected. It is therefore customary to collect 

 acorns only from the end of October. Sweet chestnuts ripen 

 with grapes in October and fall as soon as they are ripe. [They 

 ripen freely in the South of England after hot summers. — Tr.] 

 Beech-nuts also ripen in October and they usually fall at the end 



