FOR ARTIFICIAL REPRODUCTION". 553 



especially to be noted for beech-mast, acorns and the seeds of 

 birch and elms. 



Although it is desirable that many fruits should be collected 

 in di-y weather, in order that they may be stored dry and be thus 

 better preserved from decay, this is not always possible. In the 

 case of resinous cones it is not even necessary ; but moist fruits 

 containing much starch, such as acorns, chestnuts, &c., should 

 1)6 collected dry. 



The mode of harvesting varies for different fruits, the following 

 methods being employed : climbing the trees and plucking or 

 stripping-off the fruit, for sycamore and other maples, elms, 

 hornbeam, ash, alder, and all the conifers ; collecting the fallen 

 fruit from the ground, for oak, beech and chestnuts ; collecting 

 it from felled trees for all conifers but silver-fir ; finally, collect- 

 ing alder-seed from the surface of water. 



(a) Climbing Trees and Plucking the Fruit. — Collectors climb 

 trees by the help of ladders or climbing-irons (see fig. 124a, 

 p. 238), with a bag over their shoulders, and either pluck whatever 

 fruit they can reach, or strip the fruit-bearing branches by passing 

 them through the hand. Although this is an expensive method, 

 yet it is employed for birch, sycamore and other maples, elms, 

 hornbeam and to some extent for ash. The fruits of these 

 trees are small, mostly provided with wings, and are liable to 

 be blown far from the tree, so that collecting them from the 

 around, except on a smooth road, is impracticable. This may, 

 however, be done if the twigs which bear the fruits are cut 

 from below by means of pruning-shears on a pole. Even the 

 fruit-bearing branchlets may be thus lopped, if the trees are 

 shortly to be felled. 



Cones are gathered by a collector, who mounts the tree with 

 •climbing-irons and cuts off the cones by means of a sharp hook 

 at the end of a stick. The cones are then gathered into sacks 

 from off the ground. It is more troublesome and dangerous to 

 collect silver-fir cones in this way (as they are at the very top of 

 the tree) than those of spruce or pines. In the case of the 

 Scotch pine, owing to the brittleness of the branches, much 

 young wood may be thus destroyed ; this should be avoided if 

 possible, for the male and female inflorescence are on different 

 branches in this species, and to break the twigs with the cones 



