ADMINISTRATION 73 



sons who make a business of seed collecting. The 

 collectors deliver the cones to a specified Ranger 

 station or to some seed extracting plant. But such 

 collectors are not always available. Seed is col- 

 lected by Forest officers by stripping cones directly 

 from standing trees or from those felled in logging 

 operations. Large quantities are also gathered 

 from the vast stores or caches assembled by squir- 

 rels. 



Seed extraction is usually done most economi- 

 cally by experienced Forest officers. It requires 

 drying by exposure to natural or artificial heat to 

 open the cones ; threshing to separate the seed from 

 the scales and woody portions of the cone; and 

 cleaning or fanning to remove chaff and dirt. 

 Much of the extraction has hitherto been done in 

 small quantities at a large number of stations and 

 with very simple home-made appliances. In view 

 of the large amount of seed which must be handled 

 each year the cost of extraction has been materially 

 reduced and seed of higher average fertility has 

 been obtained by concentrating the major part of 

 the work at central seed-extracting plants equipped 

 with improved machinery. 



A problem of great importance from the stand- 



