THE PINE TREE. 163 
March ; after this time the heat of the weather opens their 
scales, and the seeds fall out. 
If a large quantity of seed is required, the cones should be 
placed from six to eight inches deep on a kiln, laid with deal 
two inches broad, with a vacancy of half an inch between 
each, to admit heat, and also to allow the seeds to fall 
through on the cones being turned. The heat to be applied 
should not advance beyond 130° of Fahrenheit’s thermometer ; 
but a degree approaching to that may be kept up for the first 
four hours, after which the heat should be withdrawn for 
half an hour, and the cones then turned over with a spade 
or shovel, and the seeds which fall through into the pit 
underneath should be removed. It may be necessary here to 
remark, that, the pit should be formed about a foot or two 
feet under the level of the fireplace, in order that, for the 
safety of the seed, it may be always cool, or of a compara- 
-tively low temperature. After the first turning the heat 
should be continued for other four hours, but the temperature 
rather decreased, and another cooling of the kiln should then 
take place, when the cones should be turned, and the seeds 
removed as formerly; by this time the cones are nearly all 
open, and their depth on the kiln is more than twice that at 
which they stood when the heat was first applied. A steady 
heat of about 110° is then kept up for a few hours longer, 
which completes the process of drying, and all the seeds fall 
from the open cones on their being riddled. It usually 
happens, however, that a small proportion of cones remain 
unopened ; these should be picked out and placed along with 
the close cones for the next kilnful. 
Brick or metal kilns are quite unsuitable for the drying of 
seeds, and cannot be safely employed ; these materials imbibe 
a greater heat than wood, and the seeds which come in con- 
tact with such substances are deprived of their vegetative 
principle. 
If only a few pounds of seeds are required, these are most 
conveniently extracted by exposure to the influence of sun- 
shine. By placing the cones in a warm sunny situation, 
