EEFOEESTATlOlsr ON THE NATIONAL FORESTS. 
6 
sible to pick the cones from the felled trees and from the ground 
after the brush is piled. This is a good, rapid method, provided 
a large number of trees are felled each day. 
In collecting from standing trees it may or may not be necessary 
to climb them. Cones can often be stripped from short-limbed trees 
by hand or by the use of sharp-edged hooks fastened to poles. When 
climbing is necessary, the cones are stripped or picked off by hand 
or by means of similar hooks with short handles. It is best to begin 
work at the top of the tree, because the branches are shorter there, 
and the cones can more easily be seen. Occasionally it is advisable 
to cut down heavily fruited trees, but only when the tree itself can 
be utilized. 
Squirrel caches are usually by far the best places from which to 
obtain cones. Pine squirrels collect large quantities, and chipmunks 
and mice la}^ by smaller stores. These rodents do not put by seed 
sufficient for the winter only, but collect as long as the supply lasts 
and the weather permits. In consequence they frequently lay by 
quantities out of proportion to their need. 
The small red squirrels are the greatest collectors; and it is not 
uncommon to find in one of their caches from 8 to 12 bushels of good 
cones, though the average quantity is about 2 bushels. The caches 
are sometimes buried at a considerable depth near old rotten logs, in 
springy places and muck, in duff, under bushes and felled tree tops, 
along streams, and beneath overhanging stream banks. Their pres- 
ence is often indicated by heaps of cone scales and chips where the 
squirrels have been feeding. Sometimes, however, they are carefully 
covered with leaves and humus, making it difficult to locate them, 
though the squirrels' well-beaten trails often guide the collector. 
The squirrels do not confine their collecting to a few species, but 
appear to relish a large number. Some of the species of cones which 
are often obtained from caches are Douglas fir, Engelmann spruce, 
w^estern yellow pine, lodgepole pine, and western white pine. Usu- 
ally the cones of but one species are found in a single cache. In col- 
lecting from squirrels' hoards it is well to have a pack horse for 
immediate transportation ; for if cones are dug out and left loose or 
in sacks on the ground for any length of time they will be carried 
away and cached again by the industrious animals. 
Collecting from squirrel hoards has important advantages over the 
other methods; it is usually cheaper; it can be carried on after the 
cones on the trees are open; and a high grade of cones is obtained. 
In one instance 610 bushels of lodgepole-pine cones were collected 
from squirrel caches on the Targhee National Forest, at an average 
cost of 18 cents a bushel, one man collecting 16| bushels a day. Dur- 
ing the fall of 1908, 1,137 bushels of yellow-pine cones were col- 
