_. ON ORNAMENTAL TREES 
Whether further modifications in the giant 
trees could be wrought by hybridizing the two 
forms or by selection among variant seedlings is 
a question of interest. 
Presumably, such modifications could be 
brought about were there time for it. But in 
dealing with a tree that is a mere child when it 
has outlived half a dozen generations of men, the 
plant developer feels himself in the presence of 
forces that lie almost beyond his ken. 
Moreover the attempt to deal experimentally 
with the redwood is made difficult by the fact that 
the tree seldom bears seed. Some of the woodmen 
claim that it bears once in seven years, but this is 
doubtless a mere guess, instigated by the popular 
superstition connected with the number seven. On 
one occasion, some thirty years ago, I was in- 
formed that the redwoods were loaded with seed. 
I went out with some helpers and gathered a dozen 
grain sacks or more of the cones, which could be 
obtained in any desired quantity. On drying the 
cones I found that the seeds themselves made up 
half the total weight. 
There was a good deal of variation in the cones 
themselves and in the seed from different trees. 
The seed when dried kept its germinating 
quality for seven or eight years. But only a very 
small proportion of the seeds will germinate under 
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