COLLECTION OF SEED. 141 



to harvest. But there are other species, the majority of the seeds 

 of which, with or without the rest of the fruit, are shed as soon as, 

 or soon after, this ripens ; eg>, sal, deodar, Quercus setiteccerpifolid 

 and dilatata, Abies Webbiana, birch, Lagerstacemia pan-flora, 

 Schrelera swietenioides, fyc. The collection of such seeds evidently 

 admits of no delay. 



Rainy weather ought, as far as possible, to be avoided for the 

 collection of seeds, especially of such as are small, like that of Ano- 

 geissus, birch, Adina cordifolia, Stepliegyne parvifolia, fyc ; but this 

 prohibition obviously does not extend to the case of such seeds as 

 are to be sown at once, or, which comes to the same thing, as can- 

 not under any circumstances be preserved, <?.y., of sal, Quercus 

 semecarp/'foUa, c. 



According to the various species and various circumstances seeds 

 have to be collected in different ways. The fruit may (i) be care- 

 fully hand-picked off standing trees that are not to be allowed to 

 suffer any injury thereby, or (ii) collected off. felled trees, or (iii) be 

 gathered from the ground after they have been shed naturally, or 

 lastly (iv) be broken off forcibly with a hook from standing trees, 

 (i) HAND-PICKING OFF STANDING TREES THAT ARE TO BE CARE- 

 FULLY PRESERVED : This method is always the most costly of the 

 four. It is the only one practicable with small or light fruit that is easi- 

 ly blown away by the wind (such as that of Pterocarpus Marsupium, 

 Ougeinia dalbergioides, Anogeissus, khair, sissu, ffardwickla, elms, 

 maples, ash, &c.), or with small light seeds that escape from the ripe 

 fruit still hanging on the tree,'such as those of deodar, silver fir, birch, 

 Sclirebera swietenioides, Pt'eris, fyc. The seed collector, with sack 

 slung over shoulder or round waist, must climb up into the crown 

 of the tree. What he cannot reach directly with his hand, he must 

 draw to within arm's length of himself by means of a hook attached 

 to the end of a light but strong sapling or bamboo of sufficient 

 length. Branches and branchlets break off less easily when drawn 

 upwards than if pulled downwards ; hence it is always advisable 

 for the collector to climb up at once to the highest point he can 

 attain and begin by plucking off the fruit hanging at the summit 

 of the trees. The fruit of many species is more or less articulated 

 to the twig which bears it, and thus comes away easily ; but that of 

 some species has to be cut or pulled off. For the latter class of 

 fruit the use of a cutting implement, such as a pruning knife or an 

 ordinary sickle, is to be recommended. Figure 2 represents a 

 convenient implement, which combines a sickle-like hook (a) and 

 a sharp gouge-like edge (//) in which it terminates. If the fruit 



