74 OUR NATIONAL FORESTS 



point of final results is that of having seed avail- 

 able at the season of the year when it is needed. 

 Past experiments have shown that fall sowing is 

 essential to success in most parts of the West where 

 extensive seeding projects will be conducted. Ex- 

 perience has also shown that seed on a large scale 

 cannot be extracted in time for use in the same 

 season. Moreover, every year is not a good seed 

 year, so that Forest officers must take advantage of 

 the good years to collect large quantities and store 

 them for use during years of seed shortage. Pur- 

 chased domestic or foreign seed cannot be used to 

 advantage to make up these deficiencies because it 

 is sometimes of poor quality and not adapted to the 

 climatic conditions in which it must be sown. For 

 these reasons methods had to be devised for storing 

 large quantities of seeds for several years at a time 

 and in such a manner that their vitality would not 

 be impaired. Many storage tests have been made 

 by the Forest Service to determine the best way of 

 storing seeds. The tests showed that the sealed 

 glass jar is the best container and that seed must 

 be stored either in air-tight receptacles or at low 

 temperatures to be kept for any considerable period 

 without loss of fertility. 



