■t;i. 



lIUSKlXf: AND CLEANING CONIPEKOIS SEEDS. 



sufficient to remove the greater part of the win<,s leaving a small 

 fragment attached to the seed, the dry process is employed. In 

 this case linen sacks are half tilled with seed (the mouth of each 

 sack being tied) and beaten with light flails, being turned and 

 shaken and rubbed until the wings are removed. In wholesale 

 establishments a different method is usually employed, termed 

 the wet process, which gives quicker results. The seed is then 

 piled to K inches high on a paved or planked floor, sprinkled 



^ 



Winded Seeds. 



2 3 



Seeds ineijnrcd for sale. 



1. Silver Fir. 2. Scotch Pine. 3. Larch. 



Drawn by R. S. Troup. ) 



4. Spruce. 



lightly with water from the rose of a watering-pot and then 

 energetically beaten with leather flails. In many seed-depots 

 hardly any water is used and yet the wings are completely 

 removed. 



In order to obtain clean silver-flr seed, more trouble must be 

 taken. The moistened seed must then generally be heated, so 

 that very clean silver-fir seed is regarded with suspicion. 



Objection is frequently made to the wet process, that it 

 prejudices the germinative power of the seed. This objection is 

 justified, if the damp seed is kept in heaps and allowed to 

 ferment so that the wings may separate from the seed without 

 any further mechanical treatment. If, however, the method 

 already described is followed and no fermentation allowed, the 



