UTILIZATION AND MANAGEMENT OP LODGEPOLE PINE. 



41 



same time. The wings are removed and the seed cleaned by machin- 

 ery. All the plants are located in extensive longepole-pine forests, 

 where a large supply of cheap cones is constantly available. 

 _ The cost of extraction varies with the quantity of seed handled, 

 the abundance of the cone crop, and the efficiency of the methods 

 used. In 1911 the total cost of cleaned seed on the Arapaho and 

 Medicine Bow National Forests, the two Forests which handle the 

 largest amounts, was $1.98 and $2.28 per pound, respectively, against 

 $3.82 and $4.27 per pound, respectively, in 1910. In 1912 the cost 

 of cleaned seed on these Forests amounted, respectively, to $1.80 and 

 $2 per pound. In the three States of Colorado, Wyoming, and Mon- 

 tana 2,560 pounds of lodgepole-pine seed were cleaned in 1910, at an 

 average cost of $4.94 per pound, and 3,350 pounds in 1911, at an 

 average cost of $2.76 per pound. This decrease in average cost was 

 due largely to the concentration of the collecting work in a few places. 

 With improved methods of collecting, extracting, and cleaning lodge- 

 pole-pine seed can probably be obtained in the future for less than 

 $2 per pound. 



Table 20. — Results of germination tests on lodgepole-pine seed collected from National 

 Forests in the Rocky Mountains. 





Germination. 



Real 

 value 

 (number 

 of fertile 

 seed per 

 pound). 1 



National Forest. 



Germination. 



Real 

 value 



National Forest. 



Number 

 of days. 



Per cent. 



Number 

 of days. 



Per cent. 



(number 

 of fertile 

 seed per 

 pound). 1 



CoUeeted 1910: 



Holy Cross 



Gunnison 



Leadville 



Shoshone 



Arapaho 



94 

 90 

 90 

 89 

 86 

 44 



25 



27 

 • 27 

 27 

 27 

 27 

 27 

 27 

 27 

 27 



80.5 

 71.5 

 76.5 

 78.0 

 67.0 

 33.5 



65.0 

 74.6 

 36.8 

 82.2 

 24.6 

 43.8 

 76.6 

 66.6 

 24.2 

 68.8 



98, 700 

 65, 000 

 81, 700 

 68, 000 

 65, 700 

 33, 100 



51,522 

 66, 793 

 17, 644 

 49, 887 

 21,981 

 43, 536 

 71,661 

 63, 404 

 23,355 

 56,485 



CoUeeted 1911— Con. 

 Shoshone 



CoUeeted 1912: 



Wyoming 



Arapaho 



27 



27 



43 

 31 

 31 

 31 

 31 

 31 

 31 

 31 

 31 

 31 

 31 

 31 

 31 



55.2 

 48.6 



23.5 

 61.4 

 52.0 

 55.2 

 55.4 

 52.8 

 65.6 

 58.4 

 61.0 

 67.4 

 71.6 

 59.2 

 58.0 



50, 849 

 41,030 



16,920 

 63, 920 

 46, 040 



CoUeeted 1911: 



Wyoming 



Arapaho 



Hayden 



Leadville 



Medicine Bow. 



Leadville 



Medicine Bow. 



55,970 

 57, 759 

 59, 084 

 68, 100 

 61,600 

 66,200 

 67, 150 

 67,200 

 54, 560 

 47,250 







1 Obtained by multiplying the total number of seed per pound by the germination per cent. 



Lodgepole-pine seed collected in different localities, under different 

 conditions, shows wide variation in its capacity to germinate, as 

 shown in Table 19. For this reason every lot of seed before being 

 used in the field or in the nursery should be tested to determine the 

 number of fertile seed per pound. The seed collected in 1911 was 

 tested only for a period of 27 days, since experiments had shown that 

 by far the greater amount of germination occurred within this time. 1 



1 The germination per cent obtained from a limited test of this sort is often called "germination energy,' ' 

 as distinguished from "germinative capacity," the latter being the germination per cent secured when the 

 test is allowed to run for a much longer period. 



