118 



ARTIFICIAL REFORESTATION 



cannot be stored; if 39 to 44 per cent the first year, it is only 16 to 18 

 per cent the second, and 5 to 8 per cent the third year. 



Seed Testing. — As a result of these experiments a fixed procedure was 

 adopted for official tests on tree seeds. It must be known ^ (1) whether 

 seed can germinate and what the germination per cent will be; (2) per 

 cent of impurities, since the germination per cent plus the purity per 

 cent gives the cultural value of the seed, subject to practical field condi- 

 tions which always modify the supposed cultural value. In addition 

 to the above factors it is also necessary to know (3) germinative 

 energy. 



In 1872 germinative seed tests were started at the secondary school 

 for rangers and guards at Barres. An experimental seed-testing station 

 at Paris was established in 1884.^ There were 117 analyses in 1895 

 and 2,201 in 1902-03. The object was to control and better the tree- 

 seed market of France. This seed-testing laboratory enabled the State 

 to purchase seed with a guaranteed germinative per cent, and the cumu- 

 lative result of germinative tests at the various stations has made it 

 possible that no one need purchase or sow tree seeds without knowing 

 their germinative value. The first column following gives the gross 

 amount of seed required for a complete test, and the second column the 

 amount usually required in the laboratory for the actual test. 



3 Analyse et Controle des Semences Forestieres, par A. Fron, Paris, 1906, pp. 1-128. 

 Those interested in seed control should study this monograph. 



^ So far as possible the French forest administration collects its own seed. Various 

 local dry-kilns have been established as, for example, at Murat (Cantal), Puy-de- 

 Dome, and Gap for Scotch pine; at Modane, Briangon, and Cavanasse for mountain 

 pine, although some Scotch pine is produced at Cavanasse. At Salzman, Corsican 

 pine seed is produced. At Montiers (Savoie) spruce; and aleppo pine at Font-de- 

 rOrme (Vaucluse), d'Aubagne (Bouches-du-Rhone). Maritime pine is secured from 

 Lavandee, although a part is secured from permittees who have the right to collect 

 cones in the dunes of Gascogne. Larch and cembric pine are purchased in the Hautes- 

 Alpes and Basses-Alpes and distributed from Embrun and Barcelonette. It is in- 

 teresting to note that the larch seed is collected by beating the trees when they are 

 ready to shed, between January 1 and March 1. 



