7 
CLASSIFICATION OF SEEDS. 7 
nuts are spread over the ground about 18 inches thick, and are 
kept stirred until frozen in winter. As soon as they thaw out, 
they are turned once a day. In this way they are prevented from 
molding, and from the other injuries that are so common to nuts 
stored in large quantities. It would be desirable to keep the 
temperature from ever going much below freezing. 
Seeds May be Classified Into Three Groups: (1) Those 
that ripen in spring and early summer, (2) deciduous tree seeds 
that ripen in autumn, and (3) coniferous tree seeds. 
Seeds that Ripen in Spring and Early Summer should 
be gathered as soon as ripe, and, with the exception of the Red 
Elm, sown within a few days or weeks, as they retain their vitality 
but a short time. (Red Elm seed will not grow until the follow- 
ing spring). In raising seedlings of this class it is important to 
have land that will retain its moisture during the summer months 
or else that which can be conveniently irrigated, since these seeds 
must often be sown during very hot, dry weather, and as they 
cannot be covered deeply they are very liable to fail with any but 
the best conditions. The thousands of seedlings of Cottonwood, 
Elm and Soft Maple that spring up on the sand bars along our 
rivers and lake shores show what are the best conditions for 
these seeds to germinate. 
Cottonwood Seedlings can be grown by scattering the 
branches bearing unopened seed pods along rows in moist soil 
and covering the seed lightly when it falls, but they are of so 
uncertain growth that most of our nurserymen depend upon the 
sand bars and lake shores for their supply. 
Elm, Soft Maple and Mulberry seeds generally grow 
well on any good moist soil. They should be sown thickly in 
drills eight inches wide and three feet apart, or in narrow drills. 
Elm seeds should be covered with about one-half inch of soil, 
Mulberry with about one-fourth inch and Soft Maple with about 
one inch. If the weather is dry the soil over the seeds should 
be well packed, and if the weather continues dry the rows should 
be watered. Watering, however, is seldom necessary on reten- 
tive soil if the soil has been properly packed. With proper con- 
ditions seeds so planted will start quickly and grow rapidly; the 
Elm will grow from six to eighteen inches and the Soft Maple 
twelve to twenty-four inches high before the first autumn. Such 
