260 GENERAL REVIEW. 



depth of two feet underground in sand ; they remain thus for a 

 month or two, after which the cones scale easily without force, 

 and the seeds are then picked out and sown immediately, and 

 being swelled, they germinate at once. In the case of all Coni- 

 ferae., seeds undoubtedly afford the best mode of reproduction 

 whenever they can be obtained ; but in the case of rare and new 

 varieties, grafting and cuttings have perforce to be resorted to 

 as auxiliary, and in some cases the quicker modes. The cones 

 of Cedars are very resinous when newly gathered, and ought to 

 be left a year before the seeds are separated, much of the resin 

 having during that period passed away J3y evaporation. The 

 following experiments on the germination of Conifer seeds were 

 made by Mr J. Alexander, and are recorded in the * Transac- 

 tions of the Scottish Arboricultural Society:' "In the year 

 1870, twenty cones were gathered from each of ten different 

 trees, whose ages were approximately ascertained by counting 

 the concentric circles in other trees felled beside them. The 

 cones were carefully opened, and all the seeds of the ten diffe- 

 rent sorts sown in separate beds, when the following was the 

 result : 



" The seeds of twenty cones from a tree 



300 years old produced 10 plants. 

 250 .1 .1 13 u 



200 ii u 50 u 



150 ii n 74 n 



125 n .. 106 ii 



100 years old produced 196 plants. 

 50 n n 104 n 



15 46 ,. 



IO u n 40 n 



It thus appears from these observations that cones should only 

 be gathered from trees over 50 and under 125 years old." 



The same experiment was again tried in 1871 with other 

 trees, when the result was much the same as in 1870. 



In a paper on " Gathering the Cones of Resinous Trees," 

 printed in the 'Gardeners' Chronicle,' 1872, p. 1557, Mr Ellison 

 maintains by illustrative examples that the premature gathering 

 of the seed tends to weakness in the plants. Foreign seed, he 

 remarks, from the native forests, is invaluable when imported 

 in fresh-gathered cones, secured from the trees at the con- 

 clusion of the alpine winter ; but is not worth having if they 

 have been gathered prematurely. Curiously enough, other 

 seeds have been found to be much improved if left on the 

 plants all winter ; and this is notably the case with stock-seed. 



The latter end of March, if mild, or the beginning of April, 

 is the best time to sow all Conifer seeds ; and it is an excellent 

 plan to place the seeds in a bag and soak the bag in water, for 

 a day or two, taking care to dry the seeds in the sun before 



