SEEDING FOREST TREES. 83 



when seed twigs may be cut with hedge shears. The 

 seed gathered in fall should be air-dried, and during the 

 winter stored in the barn. If it be not practicable to dry 

 them satisfactorily, they should be mixed with dry, sandy 

 soil, and laid in small heaps on a place which is protected 

 against rain and frost. To prevent them from heating, 

 the heaps should be turned over during the winter 

 several times. 



In spring the seeds are freed from the sand by sifting. 

 They are then so closely distributed in the drills of the 

 well prepared bed that the winged seed kernels lap one 

 over the other. The drill-rows are one inch deep and 

 two inches wide. After carefully covering the seeds 

 about half an inch, the beds are raked and overspread 

 four inches high with moss, heath, straw or leaves, on the 

 top of which should be laid brushes or twigs to keep this 

 light cover in position, and to prevent the growing of 

 weeds. In this condition the beds remain till next 

 spring when the cover is removed, whereupon the plants 

 appear above the ground. As these seeds mostly require 

 a longer rest before they germinate, it is advisable, in 

 order to avoid damage by mice upon the seed-bed, and 

 damage by overgrowing with weeds in the field culture, 

 to properly store the seed till fall time, and sow them at 

 that time. 



Weeding and loosening the soil between the drills, and 

 slightly covering the root-crowns of the young seedlings 

 is here, as in all seed-beds, a necessary requirement. 



Ashes, Elms and Maples, which in forest economy 

 are considered closely allied, are seldom found as pure 

 stock, because they lose, in the middle of their life term, 

 their soil-shading quality, allow the impoverishment of the 

 soil, and the springing up of valueless bushes and trees. 

 But if mixed together in seeding large tracts, good re- 

 sults may be anticipated. For an acre there would be 

 required for each kind, if sown separately, pure cleaned 



