Author S « Title •f *« s Cla88.i]0.33.Z... BookS>sJl.4:. Imprint 18—47372-1 OPO HOW AND WHEN TO COLLECT White Pine Seed This and next year's crop of cones. Large ones mature and ready for picking. By F. W, RANK Massachusetts Stat£.,JForester Room 7, State House BOSTON, MASS., - - U. S. A. -^v ^^Z^^A The Staminate (male) and Pistillate (female) flowers of the White Pine. These appear a year before the cones develop ; hence it is an easy matter to determine a year in advance of a seed crop. aift . . 08 1? 'xH^^ AND WHEN TO COLLECT J^ 5 WHITE PINE SEED npHE white pine {Pinus Strohus) is one of the most common trees found in Massachusetts and New England, and is of great economic and aesthetic value, yet the writer finds that little is known about its method of propagation. Even teachers and those who have studied botany and nature study, and again farmers and men who have worked in the woods or at the lumber industry all their lives, seem never to have given the matter any thought or definite observation. White pine is grown from seed only; it does not sprout from the roots when cut, as our hard woods. In replanting White pine . J i J J 1 J ^ our waste and abandoned lands from seed only with white pine, the first step is to collect the seed. Some evidently think pine trees come from nothing, or were created, perhaps, but this is not the way Nature does things. If we expect an agri- cultural crop, the kind of grain desired is planted ; just so with growing the white pine. Pine seed comes from the cones which grow upon the pine trees. The cones are ^ ^ more abundant upon trees of Seed ^ comes twenty years of age or more, and from pine ^^g located near the top of the cones tree. Old single pasture pines, or those growing in clumps or along the edges of the forest, and more or less limbed, commonly called "cabbage pines," are usu- ally the greater seed bearers. These trees, also, are the easier to collect the cones from. It requires two seasons for the white pine cones to mature. The embryo cone, which ^^^ is the pistillate (female) blossom seasons of the pine, forms in the spring of for seeds j.}^g year, at which time it is fer- to mature •!• i i i i i tilized, and can be seen through- out that whole season as a small, upright. so-called "Christmas candle," an inch or so long. When vegetation starts the second season, however, the white pine cone takes on activity, and by August it reaches full size, which varies from four to six inches in length. During this time the seeds form at the base and under the scales. The cones remain green until the latter part of August or fore part of September, depending upon the nature of the season, when they mature and turn brown. When mature, the cones, while still hanging on the tree, open up (spread out their scales) at the first dry period, thus allowing the seeds which have been concealed to drop out. Each pine seed is provided with a delicate wing, in some respects resembling the wing of a bee, and this assists the seed scattered by wings Very much in its distribution. With scarcely any wind the seeds travel for some distance before they reach the ground, so with a strong gale at time of shedding, one can imagine how far they may be distributed. The finding of isolated pine seedlings is often accounted for in this way. The prevailing wind at time the cones are opening governs the territory seeded. If we desire to collect white pine seed, it is important that the cones be collected before they open and lose their cones seed. Thi? may be done in before jj^g Jj^tt^j. pg^^-j ^f jj^g month of they open . • i r i August, any time before the cones open. There are various methods of collecting the cones, but the best advice is to get them somehow. Picking with a long Methods ladder is one way ; another, and of collect- , .,, 1 • ir ing cones ^^^ '^"at Will rccommend itselr, is to find out where lumbering is going on, and collect the cones as they fell the trees. When connected with the New Hamp- shire College the writer tried a number of ways of solving this problem. One which worked very nicely was to send about four or five boys up the trees to pick the cones and throw them over the branches to the ground, while another one remained upon the ground and gathered them into bags. The cones may again be gathered by pick- ing and putting directly in a bag which is attached to the shoulder, similar to the man- ner of picking apples. Old gluten or feed bags, inexpensive and commonly available about farmers' barns, answer very well for this purpose. The number or quantity of cones that can be gathered in a day will vary as to the yield per tree, method of Mother , . . , . seed trees gathermg, etc. As white pme box-boards throughout New Eng- land are in great demand, and at a relatively high price, even the old " cabbage pines," full of limbs, a few years ago considered valueless, are at present rapidly going to the sawmill. These old trees in the past have been the great seed producers and mother tr^es of our present forest stands. If they are destroyed, however, where must we look for our future pines? One man, with two assistants, in a seed year spent nearly two days in cutting down about 50 pine trees and picking example *^^ cones from them, and gathered in collect- two wagon loads, some 50 bush- mg pine ^j^ before the cones were open. When they were dried out and opened, he had fully 100 bushels of cones and nearly 5 bushels of uncleaned seed. His method of drying was to spread them out where the sun could shine on them, rak- ing the pile over often, covering them with a canvas at night and in rainy weather. If the cones get wet they close up. It took in this case two weeks to get the seeds from the cones. White pine cone with scales open and seed gone. White pine needles grow in clusters of five. 10 After the cones are gathered it is not necessary that the seed be secured from $ them at once. They may be | ecuring (Jeposited in any dry place, where ii cones squirrels or mice are kept from Ii^ them, and the seed thrashed out j later. The practice of using a bag to put the cones in is convenient, for as they open : up the bag can be flailed at odd times and i the seed falls out into the bottom and is I readily collected. Should one have a greenhouse, it is usu- ally available about the time the cones are ripe, and if they are placed here for a short time, avoiding any moisture for a few days, the high temperature will open the cones very quickly. The writer has made it a practice simply to place the bags in ther greenhouse, and then turn and flail them occa- ii sionally, when the seed is easily separated,' A hotbed or cold-frame sash could be made to serve the same purpose on a small scale. 11 There are probably many other ingenious ways of extracting the seed from the cones hat will occur to different ones which will DC equally good. White pine seed has averaged in price in recent years from $1.50 to $4.50 a pound. During the spring of 1907 the ^"^^ , price in large quantities was $3.75 3f seed •^ I a pound. White pine seed if given normal condi- tions, not too moist or excessively dry, re- tains its vitality for several years. Vitality yj^g reason that the seed has been lo/yelrs SO high is that the demand has increased very rapidly in this country lately, and the few dealers have practically made their own prices. • It is hoped that this brief pamphlet will assist in calling attention to the importance of gathering white pine seed each Important » , ^ . . [ . . ,„, to collect year, when it is truiting. We '®^®<^ should ultimately consider the im- 12 portance of harvesting this crop, just the same as any other. The writer would consider it a great benefit to New England, and Massachusetts in particular, if enough people Pine seed. campaign could be interested so that a regu lar pine seed campaign could be kept up until the seeds of this most inpor- tant forest tree could be purchased at 50 cents a pound, and it is believed it can be done. With pine and other forest tree seeds in plenty, at reasonable prices, people generally will begin to start small nursery Beginnings i^gjg [j^ j}^gif gardens and fields, forestry which will in tum give us seed- lings and transplants at a much more rational forestry basis than they can be obtained at present. There are from 20,000 to 30,000 white pine seeds in a pound, and it is customary fon nurserymen to plant this amount upon a bea 13 4 feet wide and 50 feet long. Under nor- mal conditions, which will be described in a forthcoming circular, a person ^°-3;'°°° ought to raise 10,000 to I 5,000 jeeds in ° I pound seedlings on this area. With the above data, and knowing the distance apart that pines are set, usually D by 6 feet, one can figure out for himself he cost of growing his own stock of plants. It has been the endeavor of the writer to ell in a precise and practical way just how and when to collect the white Reciothmg pjjjg seed. It now remains to be ands ^^^^ how many we can get to do something in this line. All per- -sons interested in reclothing our waste lands, and in establishing economic and aesthetic forestry conditions throughout this Common- wealth and New England, will find that practising and impressing the simple begin- nings of forestry on others will go far toward an ultimate solution. 14 Expensive forestry seeds and seedlings are the greatest drawbacks at the present time to beginning forestry work. Reason j^^^ ^^ remedy it. There an for high •' prices few seedsmen who handle fores tree seeds, and the comparative!} little demand until now has made the busi- ness an uncertain one, and hence the prices are high. If white pine sells for even $2 a pound, no one cares to sow broadcast live pounds , per acre, as is recommended by some seedsmen, as the expense makes the opera- tion anything but practical. No one cares to use live or ten dollars' worth of seed on land that is in itself almost valueless. Col- lecting the seed one's self, however, obviates this difficulty and makes the conditions 'more favorable. There is much inquiry as to how often white pine produces seed. Somehow the Seed year idea is quite firmly established in 15 the minds of many that a seed year once in seven is a fixed law. From observation there seems to be no definite regularity in Nature. A white pine, like other trees, if it yields a maximum crop one year, is not likely to produce another heavy crop in from three to seven, depending upon the seasons and other conditions. The writer has seen two heavy crops in one locality only four years apart. Examples are not uncommon, also, where a pine tree may be fruiting a fair number of cones and at the same time have embryo cones which are to fruit the following season. Not all sections of the State are likely to seed the same year, although they may. By inquiry it is found that one section may have a heavy crop, while another may have none. In this way seed usually can be had from some section each year. The seeds of spruce, hemlock, and other evergreens are collected in like manner as 16 Seed of ^^^ P^^^- Of course, they vary other in size of cone and seed and evergreens .• £ . v time or matunty. Deciduous trees, or hard woods, are also easily grown from seed, and when one gets interested in collecting and grow- Hardwoods • . i i •. • •. • l from seed ^^§ white pme, it IS only a step toward later interest and pleasure in the whole forestry question. We need to cultivate as a people a great love for out-of-door life, and there is noth- ing that awakens interest and a , „ ^ love for Nature herself more than and Nature the forests and their associations. At a later time a companion booklet on methods of planting and caring for seedlings will be issued. F. W. RANE, State Forester State House, Boston, Mass., August 1, 1907 LIBRARY OF CONGRESS OOOQflfllHTTA