250 



Garden and Forest. 



[July i8, 



The Forest. 



Notes on the Longevity- ot Coniterous Tree Seeds. 



LOUDON says European Larch seeds will not germi- 

 nate after they have been a few months ont of the 

 cones. Our experience proves that they will germinate 

 perfectly well eighteen months, and passably well thirty 

 months, after leaving the cones. The belief seems to be 

 general that White Pine seeds become rancid and will not 

 germinate after the first season. Our experience proves 

 that they will germinate thirty months after leaving the 

 cones. 



I think further experience will prove that the seeds of 

 Colorado Conifers, and seeds of coniferous trees in all dry 

 climates, will preserve their vitality still longer. We had 

 a sack of Pinus ponderosa seeds from which we sowed five 

 years in succession, and, to all appearance, they germi- 

 nated the fifth year as freely as the first. Seeds of Pirea 

 piingens and Pseudo/snga Doiighj»ii ha\'e germinated with 

 us, apparently, as well the third year as the first. I regret 

 that we had not seeds to try the experiment longer. 



Practice has changed wonderfully during the last half 

 century in this direction, and mnv, instead of keeping 

 seeds in the cones, they are taken out as soon as the cones 

 are gathered and dried, yet some writers on forest subjects 

 still recommend keeping the seeds in the cones till time for 

 sowing. But how can Fir seeds be kept in the cones.'' 

 The cones fall in pieces as soon as the seeds ripen. They 

 will hold together, it is true, if collected before the seeds 

 are ripe, but in that case the cones will become mouldy 

 and injure the seeds. There may be a few species of 

 Pines which will keep longer in the cones than out, 

 such as Pinus Baiiksiaiio, P. con/orla and P. tuber culata, 

 which hold the hard, dry cones on the trees for many 

 years; but these are kinds which are seldom, if ever, used, 

 and of little value. The White, and many other Pines, 

 the Spruces and Arbor-vit;es, hold the cones on the trees for 

 a short time after the seeds have ripened, but the)' shed all 

 the seeds as soon as they are ripe, in August, September 

 and October. I do not see how the seeds can be benefited 

 by being left in the cones after they have ripened, nor how 

 they can be kept as safely in cones as in bags. 



It is fortunate for the forestry of this country that seeds 

 of forest trees can be kept for years in this manner, other- 

 wise a succession of plants could not well be kept up, 

 for forest trees do not produce seeds every year, even 

 when the seasons are favorable. In the year 1884 I 

 scanned the White Pine trees closely from the head of 

 Lake Michigan to the New England coast, thence from 

 Rhode Island north to the Canada line, thence through 

 the Adirondack Mountains, along the Black River, and 

 into the White Pine regions in Pennsylvania, and saw no 

 trees producing cones. We then sent a collector up into 

 northern Wisconsin and the Michigan peninsula, but he 

 found that the trees were not producing seeds. It is 

 often the case that when forest trees fail to produce 

 seeds in one part of the country they are abundant 

 in another locality ; but in this case the only excep- 

 tions I heard of were one locality in the Lower Provinces 

 of Canada, and the cultivated trees west of Lake Michigan. 

 What is true of the White Pine is measurably true of all 

 other forest trees, and now, when so much is written on 

 the subject of forestry, it is surprising that so little is 

 written on this branch of the subject. Even if the seasons 

 are all favorable one can hardly expect a crop of White 

 Pine seeds oftener than once in three years. One year 

 is needed for the blooming of the male and female flow- 

 ers and the fertilizing of the embryo cones, the next year 

 for the growth of the cones and the perfecting of the seeds, 

 which draws so heavily on the vitality of the trees that 

 they require the third year to recuperate and form blossom 

 buds to continue the blossoming the year following. 

 Wherever I had an opportunity to examine, as in New 

 England, on the Adirondacks, and in the Pine belt in 



Pennsylvania, I found the trees all well set with em- 

 bryo cones, and our collector reported the same for 

 the region south of Lake Superior, and as these embryo 

 cones Were already fertilized we were certain of a crop of 

 seeds the next autumn. Of course new seeds are safer 

 and better than old seeds, and will germinate quicker. 

 We make it a rule to sow old seeds thicker than new, 

 and either to sow them earlier or soften them by soak-' 



ing before we sow them. 



Robert Douglas. 



Correspondence. 



To the Editor of Garden and Forest : 



Sir.— I have been starting a small plantation of forest trees 

 and meet various difficulties. I would like some of your prac- 

 tical correspondents to let me know how seedlings are intro- 

 duced into large plantations. White Ash, for instance, reaches 

 tlie ground in the spring and is about the size of a knitting- 

 needle, Box Elder, Elm, Mulberry the same, Cottonwood 

 only a little larger. Do planters trust fifty acres of these set 

 four feet apart to horse cultivators with ordinary drivers ? I 

 have hard work to get a man who can see them when work- 

 ing with a hoe. Are the prairies free from weeds ? Are 

 large plantations of nuts made in the fall of the year or of 

 acorns .^ 



I have tried a few acres, but find the nuts are so late to sprout 

 that the weeds hide them, and am almost tempted to plow the 

 whole ground early in the spring and cultivate it to get rid of 

 weeds, and expect "that the nuts not having started will be none 

 the worse; otherwise keep the nuts in a pile till spring. I find 

 Ash and a good many other seeds very hard to get started ; 

 hardly one planted last fall or early this spring is yet showing 

 this second of June. Ash, Maple and Cherry seeds in the 

 ground since last spring were up a week ago. Perhaps other 

 readers will be interested in a reply. 



Norwood, Onlariu. <^- -'■^- Grover. 



[White Ash, Box Elder or Elm seedlings the size of 

 knitting-needles are too small and weak for forest plant- 

 ing. One year old first-class seedlings of Ash or Box Elder 

 should be the size of a lead pencil or larger, while second-class 

 seedlings of the same age sold in nurseries at about half 

 the price of first-class seedlings, although generally con- 

 sidered too delicate for general planting, should be at least 

 three times the diameter of a knitting-needle. White Elm 

 seedlings one year old reach a height -of from twelve to 

 twenty-four inches the first season, but are more slender 

 than Ash or Box Elder in proportion to height. It has 

 been demonstrated by Mr. Robert Douglas, who has suc- 

 cessftdly planted and grown more than a thousand acres 

 of forest trees in the rich prairie soil of southern Kansas, 

 and by other tree growers, that one year old seedling trees 

 can 1)6 planted and kept free of weeds with horse cultiva- 

 tors in the hands of ordinary laborers. In Mr. Douglas' 

 plantations, except in the case of a few acres, no cultivating 

 whatever has been done by hand. The secret of success 

 in forest planting of this sort is to get the sod thoroughly 

 rotted before the trees are set, to use only strong, well se- 

 lected plants, and to keep the weeds under from the start. 

 If the young trees once get smothered in a growth of 

 tall perennial prairie weeds the case is hopeless, and there 

 is nothing to do but to plow the whole plantation up and 

 make a new one. It is practically impossible to raise a 

 forest on rich arable land by planting acorns or nuts where 

 the trees are to stand. Grasses and weeds will smother 

 the seedlings as they appear, or will so hide them that it 

 will be out of the question to cultivate the field without 

 destroying the trees. Nuts can only be planted success- 

 fully, in this country of vigorous weeds, in light sod land 

 where the growth of the grass will not overtop the young 

 trees, or among other trees which partially shade the ground 

 and prevent the growth of weeds. If a forest of Oaks or 

 Walnuts is to be raised on prairie or other rich land, year- 

 ling or two-year-old transplanted seedlings should be set 

 and thoroughly cultivated until they shade the ground 

 and prevent the growth of weeds. In an article printed 

 in Number 2 of Garden and Forest, Mr. Douglas gives 

 practical directions for raising different forest trees from 

 seed. — Ed.] 



