140 NUllSEEIES. 



this case, if the area is large and compact enough, a temporary- 

 nursery need not yield inferior results to a permanent one, with 

 which, indeed, it will assimilate, in character and in the methods of 

 establishment and maintenance, to such an extent as entirely to 

 cease to be a temporary nursery save in the mere name. 



SECTION III. 

 Collection, testing and storage of seed. 



This subject will be treated of under four several heads as 

 follows : — 



1. Collection, 



2. Preliminary manipulation, 



3. Testing, and 



4. Storage. 



ARTICLE I. 

 Collection of seed. 



Seeds may be obtained either (1) by collecting directly, or (2) 

 through contractors, or (3) by purchase in the market, or (4) by 

 exchange. Owing to the backwardness of forest culture in India, 

 the third source scarcely exists for us, and the fourth is almost as 

 limited. This is, however, no great disadvantage, since seeds 

 collected directly or through contractors must necessarily belong 

 to the latest crop, and are more likely to be fertile and sounder 

 than those obtained otherwise ; and not only this, but they can be 

 more thoroughly tested. 



The best seeds are produced by middle-aged, fully fertile, healthy, 

 vigorous trees, standing not too close together^ and growing in a 

 favourable soil and situation. Very young trees usually furnish 

 a large proportion of barren seeds, while very old or weakly trees 

 yield seeds which are not only difficult to keep but also produce 

 weak plants. Deformities in trees are often inherited, as for in- 

 stance twisted fibre, a squat habit, &c. Twisted fibre can be easily 

 detected in trees possessing a cracked bark or rhytidome, as the 

 cracks follow the twist. 



Seeds ought to be collected only when they are completely ripe: 

 such as are not fully ripe when taken off the tree do not possess 

 the germinative faculty in the same degree as those collected when 

 fully ripe, and they, moreover, lose that faculty much sooner. The 

 ripe fruit of some species, as for instance, teak, Terrainalia tomen- 

 tosa, Pterocarpus Marsupium, sissu, &c., persist on the trees for a 

 more or less considerable time. Such fruit cue need be in no hurry 



