Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1910-08-12
RESTORING NATIONAL FORESTS.

tional Forests over ten tons of tree
seed. Most of this seed has been
planted or sOwn. The remainder
will be utilized later in the season, as
favorable conditions are presented.
1t takes great many tree seeds to
make ten tons. Jack pine, the most
important tree for planting in the
Nebraska sand hills by the Forest
Service, will average something like
l25. 900 to the pound. OF Western
yellow pine, the tree most extensive
ly planted through the National
Forests as q whole, 10000 seed will
make pound. Altogether the ten
tons of seed to be used this year rep
resent perhaps 300 million single
seeds.
II every seed could be depended on
to produce a young tree suitable for
planting, the result would be sup
ply OF nursery stock sufficient to
plant three hundred thousand acres
OF land, but no such results can be
looked for because many seeds do not
germinate. Most of the seed will be
sOwn, either broadcast or in seed
spots or planted with a planter
directly in the place where the trees
are to stand.
Even when nursery stock is raised
a liberal allowance must be made for
loss. In the first place, consider
able percentage of the seeds will be
found to be infertile. OF those which
germinate, many will die before they
leave the nursery beds, and many
more will be lost in transplanting.
If from pound of Western yellow
pine seed that contains 10000 indi-
vidual seeds, 1000 three year-old
transplants are available for field
planting, the Department of Agricul-
ture has obtained satisfactory re-
suits.
There are now twenty-four National
Forest nurseries with an annual
productive capacity of over eight
million seedlings. But there are
many millions of old burns on the
National Forests which are waiting
to be restocked, and some quicker
and cheaper method than the actual
planting of nursery-grown trees is ur-
gently needed. Therefore the forest
ers are making experiments on a large
scale with different methods of direct
sowing and planting, and most of the
seed gathered last year we obtained
for this use.
Broadcasting has already been found
to give good results in some regions.
1t was first tried in the Black Hills of
South Dakota. with an encouraging
outcome. To broadcast an acre of
land with yellow pine seed about
eight pounds of seed is used. One
OF the most formidable drawbacks to
this method is the extent to which
the seed may be consumed by birds
and rodents. If the season happens
, to be one in which food for these
animals is scarce. the loss is very
heavy. The problem of control of
animal pests. such as field mice,
ground squirrels and gophers, which
eat the tree seeds, and also the fur
ther problem of preventing the depre-
dations of rabbits. which are alto
gether too fond of the little trees
themselves, whether nursery trans
plants or feld.grown seedlings, is
receiving the attention of the Bio
logical Survey experts of the De-
partment of Agriculture.
J.. In some localities the department
has had to purchase seed. but most
of that used is gathered by Forest
Service men themselves. The cost
OF gathering has varied for the diff
ferent regions from 80 cents to 81 q
pound. AS rule the seed is col
lected in the fall months, when most
conifers ripen their seed Parties of
three or four men ordinarily work
together. When numbering is in
progress the collectors follow the
sawyers and take the cones directly
from the felled trees. In standing
timber the work is much more ardu-
Gus. The men must often climb
tall pines and pull the cones from
the branches as best they can.
Where trees are on the extremities
and beyond the reach of the hand,
pruning shears are used. The cones
are dropped to the ground and then
gathered into buckets and transferred
to sacks, in which they are carried
to cen tral point for further treat
ment.
The extraction of the seeds is
tedious rather than difficult. In
some cases the cones are spread out
upon sheets in the sun, when after a
time, they open and the seed drop
out; in other cases, it is necessary to
resort to artificial heat. This is ap-
piled by placing the cones upon trays
with screen bottoms and raising the
temperature of the room to the prop.
err degree. The cones open, the
winged seeds fall out, and the seed
is separated finally from wings and
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