SEEDING FOREST TREES. 87 



their seeds do not like a very loose soil, and therefore the 

 beds should be rolled down a little before distributing 

 the seed. Seeds ripen from midsummer till October, and 

 should be sown immediately after gathering when the 

 catkins are still wet ; the plants appear then early in 

 spring. The Alder seedlings being very tender and 

 liable to be destroyed by frost, should be covered by some 

 leaves and twigs. Birch seedlings are hardy, and require 

 no protection ; but the proper sowing time for both is 

 spring, and broadcast sowing is mostly employed. The 

 seed should be very lightly covered with a wooden rake. 

 If sowing m drills is preferred, the seed is sown in broad 

 beds in the manner of the coniferous trees, and the 

 beds are kept free of weeds till the plants have 

 sprung up. They require careful cleaning and frequent 

 v/atering during the first year. In the second year they 

 reach already a height of from 8 to 10 inches in suitable 

 soil — loose and rich in vegetable mould — and are able to 

 be transplanted. But if they shall be used to fill out 

 vacant spaces in the woods, or to form coppice-wood, 

 three-year-old plants should be selected. 



It is also advisable to gather these seeds rather than to 

 obtain them from seedsmen, and for the same reason as 

 above mentioned. The cones, or catkins, are picked in 

 fall when their color has turned into brown, and before 

 frost appears. They should then be air-dried, put in 

 bags and hung up iu a barn. In spring they will be 

 found to have mostly opened and dropped the seed. 

 Should the deliverance of the seed not have been fully 

 accomplished, the cones have to be taken into a warmed 

 room, where they soon will discharge the rest of the 

 seed. Some collect the seeds by thrashing in fall the 

 air-dried catkins in the bags, and store the cleaned seed 

 in a dry barn in small piles protected against very 

 cold and wet air, while some cut in the fall the twigs on 

 which the cones grow, hang them during the winter up in 



