THE AROLLA, OR SWISS PINE, 



99 



ovate shape 3 inches in length by 2\ inches in breadth. The colour of the cones 

 is generally bluish, but sometimes yellow, greenish, or brown-red. They are 

 found often in bunches of five at 

 the end of the last year's shoots, 

 each cone standing erect. Each 

 of the woody, thick scales covers 

 two longish three-edged, brown- 

 coloured seeds of about the size of 

 a medium-sized bean. These seeds 

 are winged ; the wings growing 

 on the scales, however. The seed 

 has a golden-brown or sometimes 

 whitish-yellow skin, and a plea- 

 sant oily flavour, which recommends it to men and beasts alike. The heat of the 

 sun in the following spring opens the scales, and the seeds are scattered by the 

 swaying of the branches to a distance of sometimes as much as 60 or 70 feet, 

 in spite of their weight. They remain on the ground where they fell for a 

 year without germinating. Concerning the so-called "artificial" germination 

 of seed, Herr Gustav Razl, Ranger of the Imperial and Royal Forests, wrote 

 in 1889 as follows: — 



" The seeds of the Swiss Pine, which, as is well 

 known, are apt to fall a prey to birds and mice 

 during their two years' sojourn on the ground, are 

 with us (Tyrol) stored — the perfectly ripened ones — 

 in pits on the ground, covered with peat soil. In 

 this state they remain at rest until the following 

 spring, when some of the seed show signs of ger- 

 minating, those earliest to germinate always proving 

 less strong than the rest. About the end of May 

 the seeds are removed from the storage, and with the 

 sieve that has been used for the purpose of covering 

 them with peat soil they are again freed from the 

 soil, so that only a sign of peat remains on the dark 

 colour of the seeds. The seeds are then packed away 

 in a chest about 8 inches deep, whence they are fre- 

 quently shaken into a second chest in order to renew 



the air and maintain a condition of moderate mois- 

 ture. Once or twice weekly the seeds that have ger- 

 minated are picked out and transferred to nursery- 

 beds. The rest are returned to the pits, and, with 

 frequent transfers from one box to another in the 

 meantime, they remain there until they germinate 

 in the following spring. It is noticeable that the 

 seeds of first year's germination do not nearly possess 

 the lasting quality of those of the second year. My 

 experience is that artificial seed-forcing so often re- 

 commended is not to be advised, especially as in 

 practice it is found that the seed which is readiest in 

 germinating does not by any means always produce 

 the most useful plant. The process which I have 

 described above I hold to be the simplest, cheapest, 

 and, for nurseries at high elevations, the best." 



In the Swiss Pine the seed years recur every six or eight years, not oftener. 

 The seed production is at times so rich that many trees are actually overloaded 

 with cones. In the case of no other of our forest trees is the seed so syste- 

 matically collected, yet not so much with the object of propagating a valuable 

 tree as for sale as a table delicacy. The collector hastens to gather the seed 

 even before it is ripe, in the fear that it may fall a prey to some other depre- 

 dator. It is not easy, therefore, to obtain perfectly matured seed, and in the 

 purchase of such the greatest caution is called for. The perfectly ripe seed has 

 a hard brown shell and a pale-yellowish, full, and firm nut. For sowing, the 



