Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1910-12-10
How THE FoREsTERs
CI,EAN PINE EiE

r the pine cones by the squirrel method
In order to learn just how the Forester
extract seed from the pine cones an
, clean the seed from the wings and dir
the CHRONICLE reporter visited the Go,
ernment seed extracting plant for tn
purpose of gathering information.
was at once concluded that our recer
article did not in any way overestimat
the importance of the red SQUIRE
Without actually seeing from fifteen {
twenty thousand bushel of pine cone
such as the Foresters now have on hand
it would be hard to realize how big
pile they would make. There are ap
proximately five hundred cones in on,
bushel. All told the Forest Service pur
chased approximately twenty.four thou
sand bushel of cones, which would NEAR
more than ten million cones. Withou
the aid of the red squirrel, it would have
been impossible for all the men, women
and children in the Black Hills to have
gathered in such an amount. 1t is need
less to say that the Foresters feel very
grateful to the squirrel. They inform.
ed US that they were very much pleased
to learn from settlers who were anxious
to again sell more pine cones that, even
though 80 much of their food had been
removed, that there was sufficient sup
ply on hand to provide for all their
wants during the coming winter. Many
have reported that the squirrels have
refilled their nests with cones. Aside
from this the squirrels eat many other
kinds of food, such as mushrooms, roots,
tips of twigs, etc.
The cones are stored in convenient
warehouses and as they are needed, are
removed to the drying house where they
are elevated into the second story over
the drying room where they are allow
ed to remain TO become thoroughly air
dryed and thus allow as much evapora-
tion to take place as possible. From
the second story of the building they are
shoveled down through chutes onto wire
mesh trays, which are placed in the dry
ing room proper. Each tray is twenty -four
feet square and provides sufficient room
to spread two bushels of cones. There
is sufficient number of trays to allow
the drying of approximately four hun
dred bushels of cones at one time.
The drying room is heated by furn-
ace in the basement, regulated so as to
allow the temperature to gradually raise
from normal, or about 400 Fahrenheit to
about ll40. This is very delicate pro-
cess; for, should the cones be over-h eat
ed, the seed would not germinate. 1t is
for this reason that the Government re-
fuses to buy seed from private indivi-
duals not under contract, as there is no
way to determine definitely whether or
not the seed have been subjected to too
great a heat, except by tests which would
require considerable time and expense.
After being exposed for period of ap-
thirty-six hours to this tenn
perature, the cones are thoroughly open
ed and allow the seed to rattle out when
subjected to agitation.
From the drying room the cones when
opened are shoveled into a wire mesh
cylinder, which the Foresters call their
flying machine" The cylinder is six
teen feet long and has a slope of six
inches so that the cones work their own
way through as the cylinder is revolved
by the gasoline engine. As the cylinder
revolves the seed drops to the floor, the
cones rattle out at the far end and are
hen suitable for only kindling. 1t is
Dur opinion that they would make very
poor breakfast food, as was suggested
ast week, although they might make
excellent malt, if some inventive genius
Gould get up the proper distilling ma
,hinery.
When the seed first comes from the
,one they have wing or tail which ma
ure provides so that the seed would be
distributed widely by the wind. In
artificial planting, however, it is not
necessary that the wing remain on the
'eed, but, on the other hand, it is a
lindrance when the seed are used in
'eeders. 1t was therefore necessary for
he Foresters to devise method to re-
move the wings and also other foreign
'efuse, such as particles of cones, small
pits of pitch, stones and dirt. This, we
ire informed, was at first one of the
greatest problems, but at the present
lime has proven to be the simplest and
,ne of the cheapest problems. A guam
,ity of seed to be cleaned is first placed
a big box then thoroughly moistened.
Then it is placed on sand screen with
mesh just large enough to allow the
'eed to pass through when the bulk is
rubbed with rubber pad. The seed,
after passing through the sand screen is
placed on canvass sheets and allowed to
become thoroughly dried and then is
run through tanning mills which clean
It ready for shipment.
1t is interesting to note that the seed
obtained at Custer is shipped to practi.
,ally all of the Western States. Approx
mately 1000 pounds of seed has been
already cleaned and shipped to North
Dakota, Montana, Idaho, Colorado, Utah
and California. At the present time
there is 1000 pounds of seed on hand
ready for shipment, and it is expected
that about $4,000 pounds will be shipped
before the operations are closed. 1t is
planned to ship later in the season to
New Mexico and Nevada.
After viewing the operation and dis