The Russellville Democrat. [volume] (Russellville, Ark.) 1875-1898, 1883-03-08
Raising Forest Trees from Seed.

1t is a good general rule to sow seeds
OF all kinds as soon as they are ripe.
They will vegetate sooner if sown i'm
mediately after being gathered from the
plant than they will do at any future
time. Exposure to the air hardens the
outside covering of seeds, which has a
tendency to retard termination; so that
whether a seed will germinate in one
week, one month, one, two or more
years after it has been put in the
ground, will depend very much upon
the amount of drying and exposure to
the air that it was subjected to before it
was sown.
But it is not always practicable or
convenient to SOW seeds Immediately
after they are ripe and have been gath
cred; therefore, the alternative is to try
to preserve them in the best manner so
as to retain their vitality unimpaired, so
that they will terminate as speedily as
possible when sown.
There are many seeds which ripen
during late summer and in the fall,
which cannot very well be kept during
winter without more or less deteriora-
ton. Some, such as the silver maple.
red maple, elm and poplar, ripen early
and will not keep well; these should be
sown as soon as ripe, and they will prob
ably grow to good sized plants before
the growing season ends. Silver ma
piles may be had from three to four feet
high by December from seeds sown the
preceding June. Among those which
do best when sown in the fall, or imme-
diately after they are ripe. are the seeds
of the peach, cherry, sweet chestnut,
hazelnut, walnut, hickory, oak, horse
chestnut, beech, linden.
Ii these cannot be sown in the fall
they must be kept over until spring by
mixing them with sand or dry earth Of
any Kind, and kept in cool place,
such as an open shed or well venti-
lated, cool cellar; if kept in q warm
place they will not be in such good con-
dition in spring as when kept quite
cold and slightly moist. Sometimes
acorns and various kinds of nuts will
keep in fine condition by spreading
them thickly on the surface of the
ground in the open air and covering
them over with four or six inches of
earth or sand.
Small seeds, and those that are light
and chaffy, such as seeds of the alder,
sycamore, catalpa, tulip tree and null
berry, as also some of the later ripen-
ing winged seeds, as the sugar maple
and the various specious of ash, should
be gathered when ripe and spread thin
ly in an airy situation. to partially dry,
after which they can be stored in coarse
bags and kept in cool, airy room until
required for sowing in spring, Larch,
pine and generally seed of all confer
Gus plants, should be kept in similar
manner during winter.
To succeed in raising plants with a
good root system, it is essentially neces-
sary that the seeds should be sown in
deeply-worked. light loamy soil.
Clayey soils are not to be selected, as
they too readily harden on the surface
and form an impervious crust, SO far as
relates to the pushing power of the
young germs Where no other soil is
available except clay, we have seen
good results attained by covering the
seed with sand; there is nothing in a
clay soil to prevent growth when once
the young plants show themselves
above the surface. The soil should not
only be deeply worked, but it should al
ways be made as rich and fertile as
possible. In general there is altogether
too little account made of this primary
requirements. and very many of the
failures in first attempts in the cultiva-
ton OF specialties, such as that of rails
ing trees from seeds, may be clearly
traced to carelessness in the selection,
preparation and enrichment of the
soil.--Rnral World.