4 BULLETIN 475, U. S. DEPARTMEXT OF AGKICULTUEE. 
termine ay hat constitutes a good crop for different species have given 
the following figures :^ 
Table 1. — Aiiwunt of seed per acre produced by different species. 
Species. 
Trees 
per acre.i 
Cones 
per tree. 
Seeds per 
bushel 
cones. 
Seed 
per acre. 
Douglas fir 
Western yellow pine . 
Lodgepole pine 
White pine 
Red pine 
Engelmann spruce. . . 
Sugar pine 
Buslicls. 
3.50 
4.00 
.50 
1.00 
.SO 
1.25 
7.00 
Pounds. 
1.00 
1.50 
.40 
1.00 
1.00 
.SO 
l.bO 
Pounds. 
35.00 
30.00 
8.00 
7.00 
4.00 
12.00 
S9. 60 
1 Bearing seed in appreciable quantities. 
2 The sugar pine seed is large,' so that this weight does not indicate a greater number of seed per acre 
than is produced by some of the other species. 
GATHERING THE SEED. 
Before beginning the actual work of collecting the seed of any 
species, information regarding the seed crop in various portions of 
the tree's range must be obtained. Knowledge of the relative abun- 
dance of cones and the possibility of economically collecting seed 
in the different localities makes it possible to concentrate the work 
where the best results can be had at the least expense. Small, scat- 
tered operations are the most costly. 
Cones of most of the pines take two years to mature. Those of 
some of the junipers and cypresses also take two years, and a few 
require three- years. It is often possible, therefore, to predict a crop 
of any of these species in advance. Other conifers ripen their cones 
in one season. 
Careful examination of both the cones and the seed is necessary 
to determine when collecting should begin, because cones ripen at 
different times in different parts of a tree's range and at different 
altitudes and localities in the same region. The external appearance 
of the cone is not a sufficient indication of the condition of the seed ; 
a number of cones should be cut open and the seed themselves exam- 
ined. So long as the seed are soft and milky they are immature. 
When the squirrels begin to cut off cones for storing, collecting should 
begin at once. Hard frosts, followed by warm days, hasten the 
ripening and opening of cones, and for most species the period of 
collection is short if the cones are taken directly from the trees. 
Therefore, when once collection is begun it should be pushed forward 
with all possible haste. 
Cones are collected from felled trees, from standing trees, and 
from squirrel hoards. Where logging is going on it is often pos- 
1 U. S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service Bulletin Xo. 98. 
