2 BULLETIN 1364 ; U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



cate the procedure that should be followed to secure the best re- 

 sults. The forestation problems peculiar to this region exist rather 

 in field planting than in the propagation of nursery stock. The 

 artificial conditions found in the nursery bed are essentially uniform 

 the country over, and the accepted methods are fairly well standard- 

 ized and are generally applicable (7, 8, 9). 1 Under the natural con- 

 ditions of field planting, the intermountain region presents more 

 special problems due to peculiarities of this particular region. For 

 this reason, this bulletin will treat field planting more extensively 

 than the preceding operations of seed collection and nursery practice. 

 However, certain deviations from usual practice and certain unusual 

 difficulties experienced in this particular region, even in the artificial 

 growing of the nursery stock, must be considered. 



SEED COLLECTION. 



Forest planting must necessarily begin with the collection of the 

 seed. In this region seed collecting has been confined almost entirely 

 to squirrel caches, because logging operations have never been large 

 enough to make the usual method of collecting seed from felled 

 trees economical. Collecting from squirrel caches is cheaper than 

 any other method tried (PL I) and can be done after the cones on 

 the trees have shed the seed; and seed obtained in this manner 

 usually has a high germination percentage. Seed of western yellow 

 pine (Pinus ponderosa and P. ponderosa scopulorum), Douglas fir 

 (Pseudotsuga taxifolia), lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta), Engelmann 

 spruce (Picea engelmanni), and blue spruce (Picea parryana) has 

 been collected by this method at various times and in quantities 

 ranging from a few pounds up to as high as 6,000 pounds in a single 

 operation. 



The exact time of the ripening of the cones depends somewhat on 

 the species, the season, and the locality. By September 15 to 20 

 the squirrel caches are usually fairly well filled, and the gathering of 

 cones should begin about that time. If delayed to a much later date, 

 snow and cold weather may make the work disagreeable and ex- 

 pensive. 



It is not difficult to locate the caches, which are usually found in 

 some moist place under rotten logs or stumps, or under brush, and 

 usually close to groups of good seed trees. An average of 4 to 5 

 bushels of cones may be collected from one cache in good seed years, 

 while as high as 15 bushels have been taken. The cones should be 

 collected in sacks, including as little litter as possible, and at the close 

 of each day's work the sacks should be taken to some central point 

 where the drying can be started without delay. 



Since the collection of the cones can not usually be started until 

 September 15 or later, the time for outdoor drying is short before in- 

 clement weather sets in throughout the intermountain region. It 

 is therefore necessary to start the drying as soon as the first lot of 

 cones is obtained. No special means of extraction is necessary with 

 any of the species used in this region. Solar drying is the rule (PL II, 

 fig. 1), although artificial heat is sometimes necessary with lodgepole 

 pine. 



1 Italic numerals in parentheses refer to "Literature Cited" page 66. 



