SOURCES OF SEEDS. 81 



western slopes of the Rocky Mountains, where the climate is 

 very humid, produce trees which are not so well adapted to 

 withstanding the conditions of this section as trees grown 

 from seeds from the eastern slopes, where the summers are 

 very dry and hot and tHe winters very dry and cold. Our 

 climate is especially trying to trees and it is necessary to 

 exercise much more care in the selection of tree seeds here 

 than it is in the more favored climate of the eastern and west- 

 ern coast states. 



There are conditions under which every species of tree 

 thrives best and makes its greatest growth, but the trees 

 produced under these conditions are not always the hardiest. 

 As we reach the limits of their growth, trees have a tendency 

 on account of drouth or cold to become smaller, more compact 

 in form and to fruit younger: e. g., the Box Elder is a large 

 tree in Kansas and Missouri, bub as it gets towards the Mani- 

 toba line we find it becomes dwarfed and more bushy inhabit. 

 Towards the southern limit of its range the tree becomes more 

 open in habit and more liable to disease. The Scotch Pine 

 seeds imported into this country are generally saved from the 

 small scrubby trees that are found in the higher altitudes of 

 the Mountains of Europe, beca.use such trees produce the most 

 seeds and they are most easily gathered from them, while 

 seeds are seldom gathered from the large timber trees of this 

 species, and it is very likely that this poor seed stock is 

 responsible for much of scrubby appearance of many Scotch 

 Pine plantations in this section. 



Trees have a strong tendency to perpetuate qualities which 

 lave been developed in them by climate and soil conditions, 

 fence, even though an essential point in considering the value 

 ff any tree is its hardiness, the question of size is import- 

 mt and should be taken into account, as we generally wish to 

 grow trees of as large size as practicable. We may conclude 

 taen that since trees from a very cold climate generally lack 

 b hardiness, and those from a very severe climate may lack 

 h size, it is best to procure seeds from the best trees grown 

 rear by or from those grown under similar climatic condi- 

 tons elsewhere. It is not generally necessary to limit this 

 range very closely, as a hundred miles north or south of a 



