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A Cutter For Sampling Cone Seed Quality

When cones are collected or purchased in the Pacific Northwest, cutting a sample of these cones is standard practice to get an estimate of the number of full seed they contain and therefore the amount of seed likely to be extracted from them as a guide to their worth for collecting or buying. Cones can be cut by many methods. Sometimes a knife or an axe is used, sometimes sharpened files or saw blades mounted on a base and having a chopping action. A good cutter for field use on Douglas-fir and smaller cones is the Osborne cone cutter described by Hopkins 1 and by Syverson 2. This cutter is adequate for limited field use, but for cone buying, when 5 to 10 cones are sampled from every sack, a more efficient and less tiring tool is required. The type of cone cutter presently used by the State of Washington, Department of Natural Resources, was designed similarly to those used for many years by the Manning Seed Co.


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Author(s): Boyd C. Wilson

Publication: Tree Planters' Notes - Volume 19, Number 2 (1968)

Volume: 19

Number: 2