BOOK III. CULTURE OF A TREE-NURSERY. 975 



Before treating of the gathering,' storing, separating the seeds, sowing, and nursery cul- 

 ture, of each of these general divisions, it is essential to remark, that in collecting every 

 kind of tree-seed, preference should be given to that produced by trees the largest and 

 most perfect of their kind, and to the fullest and best-ripened seeds on these trees. The 

 reasons have been too frequently given in this work to require repetition. 



SECT. I. Coniferous Trees and Shrubs, their Seeds, Sowing, and Rearing. 

 6983, The principal hardy coniferous trees and shrubs are as follow : 



Juniperus virginiana, December 

 Cupressus thuyoides, January 



sempervirens, January 

 Pinus balsamea, September 



larix, December 



canadensis, November 



Pinus sylvestris, November 



picea, October 



abies, November 



nigra, November 



pinea, December 



Pinus strobus, October 



pinaster, December 



cedrus, March. 



Shrubs. 

 Thuya occidentalis, November 



orientals, November. 



6984. Cones may be gathered any time between the ripening season and the following 

 April ; but the sooner they are gathered the better, as they supply work for the regular 

 hands of the establishment in bad weather during the winter months ; or admit of giving 

 industrious money-making persons work by the job in the winter evenings. The gene- 

 ral mode of separating the seeds is by kiln-drying, in the same way as in drying malt, 

 but applying a more gentle heat. 



6985. The cone-kiln is constructed after the manner of a common malt-kiln : the bearers should be 

 about nine feet distant from the fire, and two inches apart. A wire cloth is spread over them from side to 

 side of the kiln, and the cones are laid on it to the thickness of twelve or fourteen inches. A gentle fire is 

 then applied, and regularly kept up till the cones become opened. During the time of drying, the cones 

 must be frequently turned upon the kiln ; and when the seeds begin to drop out, they must be removed 

 to the seed-loft, and sifted till all the seeds which are loose fall out, and be taken from among the cones. 

 The cones are afterwards to be thrashed severely with flails, or passed through a hand-threshing machine, 

 and sifted as before, and so on, till the seeds are taken put as completely as possible. It is, however, a 

 safer method to split the larch-cones before putting them into the kiln. This operation is performed by a 

 small flat triangular spatula, sharpened at the point and cutting-angles, and helved like a shoemaker's 

 awl. The cone is held by the fore-finger and thumb of the one hand, upon a flat piece of wood, while, 

 with the other, by the splitter, it is split up from the great end ; and afterwards each half is split up the 

 middle, which parts the cone into four divisions. This is by far the best and least destructive to the seeds 

 of any method we know ; because the cones so split, when exposed to the heat, are suddenly opened, and 

 readily discharge the seeds ; which, consequently, are less injured by the fire-heat. Besides the above me- 

 thod of splitting, there are others. Some people use a cone-mill, which has large sharp teeth in a con- 

 cave cylinder, and others fixed in a corresponding roller. The mill is wrought by turning the roller by 

 a handle resembling that of common fanners. The cones are let into the mill by a hopper. This instru- 

 ment is very difficult to work, and bruises the seeds very much ; many of which are of course destroyed. 

 We have several times made use of the common improved bark-mill, for separating the seeds from larch 

 fir cones ; but the cones are thus so much compressed and bruised, that the seeds suffer exceedingly ; 

 and we would by no means advise it : indeed, among all the methods which we have known adopted, to 

 perform the painful and laborious work of extracting the seeds of the larch, the plan of splitting them 

 singly is much the best and safest for the seeds, and ought to be adopted by every one who has occasion 

 to use only small quantities of seed. None of the other kinds of cones require so much labor as the 

 larch, excepting, perhaps, those of the cedar of Lebanon, and black American spruce. Cones, which 

 have given out all their seeds, are generally, and very properly, used as fuel for drying other cones. This 

 sort of fuel requires the attention of a very steady feeder ; indeed, the most careful and attentive are apt 

 to set the full or drying cones on fire, from the resinous nature, and tendency to flame, of the empty 

 cones used as fuel. Such kilns should, therefore, be erected in situations far removed from a dangerous 

 neighborhood. 



6986. The cones of Scots pine, the larch and the spruce, " are the principal kinds which are opened by 

 kiln-heat. The cones of the silver fir, the balm of Gilead fir, and the Weymouth pine, give out their 

 seeds with very little trouble : indeed, if they be not gathered soon in autumn, and kept from severe 

 drought, they will fall to pieces of their own accord. Seeds of the white American spruce are only pro- 

 cured from warm situations, and from America, and are generally sold in a clean state, or separated from 

 the cones. Cones of the black and red spruce are brought from America, and sold in the state of cones. 

 These should be split, and exposed in a sieve tilted before a gentle fire, with a sheet of paper below the 

 sieve to receive the seeds as they fall out. The seeds should be removed every quarter of an hour j be- 

 cause they are small, and are very easily injured by the heat." 



6987. The cones of cedar of Lebanon " should be kept for one year at least, after they are taken from 

 the tree, before the seed be attempted to be taken out. This is necessary, on account of the soft nature 

 of the seeds, and the great quantity of resinous matter which the cones contain when growing, and which 

 is discharged by the keeping. The best way to take out the seeds of the cedar, is to split the cones, by 

 driving a sharp conical piece of iron through the heart of them. This work, as well as the taking out of 

 the seeds is greatly facilitated, by steeping the cones in water for a day or two, previous to splitting them. 

 The coats of the leaves should be opened with the hand, and the seeds carefully taken out. The cones of 

 the cedar are brought from the Levant, and may be purchased with safety for seed, although it be several 

 years since they were taken from the tree." (Plant. Kal. 325.) 



6988. Sowing. April is the best season for all the species ; the soil should be in ex- 

 cellent condition, well mellowed by the preceding winter's frost and snow, carefully dug 

 and raked as fine as possible. All the sorts are sown in beds, excepting the cedar of 

 Lebanon and some pines ; and the manner of sowing is by cuffing or bedding in, already 

 described. (1875.) 



6989. The soil for the Scotch pine, before being dug over in February, should be thickly coated with rot- 

 ted hot-bed dung : the seeds should be sown so as to rise at the distance of a quarter of an inch from one 

 another j and the covering should be half an inch thick., The best preparation for larch-seeds is a previ- 

 ous crop of two-years' seedling Scotch pines, and next, a similar crop of the larch. The soil should be 

 dunged and prepared as for the Scotch pine ; after sowing the seeds, both of this tree and the Scotch pine, 

 previous to covering them, draw a light roller along the bed, to press the seeds firmly into the earth ; 

 then cover a quarter of an inch thick. The larch should rise at the same distance as the Scotch pine ; but 

 the seeds being generally more or less injured in separating, many do not come up, and they are therefore 

 sown thicker than the other. 



6990. The seeds of the spruce fir are to be treated like those of the Scotch pine ; and the balm of Gilead 



