Ko. 4.] FORESTRY IN MASSACHUSETTS. 75 



Congress is obliged to distribute seeds, many of whicli arc 

 worthless to the furiiier. My thought is that, if oiu- national 

 government should distribute some forest tree seeds every 

 year to any one who would })lant them, and then let the 

 State exempt these plantings from taxation, it would result 

 in great public benefit. 



In regard to the com})arison of pine and hard wood, with 

 us the day of hard wood has gone by. I have a 5-acre lot 

 of oak timber, excellent for ship timber, but it is valuable to 

 me only as cord wood. Twenty-five to forty years ago that 

 timber was worth more than double what it is to-day. The 

 call for ship timber in my section is over. That is the reason 

 I favor the white pine. Our soil is ada})ted to the growth 

 of the white pine, and it grows as rapidly as any tree. 



Question. When is the seed collected? 



Mr. Pratt. I collected the seed about the first of Sep- 

 tember. You have to watch the, trees and collect the burrs 

 before they open. M}^ method was to shake oflf the burrs 

 and let the boys pick them up and spread them under cover 

 to dry, when the seed falls out. While there are but few 

 seeds in a burr, a day's work with half a dozen boys will 

 result in collecting quite a good deal of seed. 



Dr. Fernow. In regard to the pine weevil, Mr. Pratt is 

 inclined to think that, because his neighbor's pines were 

 planted as seedlings, wdiile his came from seed sown, they 

 were aflected by the weevil. That would be all right if 

 observations did not exist wdiere, in many cases, trees o-rown 

 from seed have been attacked by the weevil. Seedlings, 

 however, are more likely to be aft'ected than sown pine. 

 We, in the Adirondacks, do not know the weevil. We have 

 planted about 300 acres during our three years' experience 

 in college forestry with spruce. We find no difiiculty at all. 



I would like to speak of government distribution of seeds. 

 I was at one time where I had to assist in this work. When 

 I first went to Washington, in 1896, there was a requirement 

 to distribute forest seeds ; and I found that my predecessor 

 had been distributing acorns, which he had had on hand for 

 three years, to encourage tree planting. I found out this, that 

 it is not easy to handle forest seeds, or to give iustructions 



