32 



Beyond this tliev were few niid soattcriiig, exc'e[)t on the nortlieast, where they 

 were found at eonsiderable distances. Owing to the difHculty of finding tlie 

 young seedlings in the grass, measurenjents were not undertaken. 



Tiiebe items are full of signifii'ance. It is a very noticeal)le fact, and lias 

 often been remarked, that many of the })li)nts of the Nortii American flora have 

 a northeasterly range. This is true of (piite a list of heavy-fruited trees which 

 ripen their fi'iiit in the fall. Our ol)servations show that ordinary strong wind-^, 

 such as are common at the time the fruit of such trees is ripe, are capable of car- 

 rying it to a considerable distance, and that the winds carry the fruit, for scuue 

 localities, farthest in the same direction year after year. The principal range of the 

 gum, honey-locust, common locust and a number of other trees with more or less 

 heavy fruits, and especially those of southern affinities, is from the southwest 

 toward the northeast. This, coupled with the writer's observations, seems to indi- 

 cate that for the broad belt of country extending from Texas and ^Missouri north- 

 eastward to Western New York and Pennsylvania, the strong winds of the fall 

 months blow chiefly from the southwest. If this be shown l)y tiie rcords of me- 

 teorology to actually be the ca.se, the northeastward tendency so noticeable in 

 many of our plants will have been satisfactorily explained. The investigation of 

 this matter is not full enough yet to warrant the definite statement. An exami- 

 nation of the Signal Service Records for a number of successive years will be nec- 

 essary to settle the point. Reports for 1S82-8 giving the weather tables for 18S1-2 

 are all that have been examined. These bear out the suggestions made concern- 

 ing the direction of the stronger autumn winds for the region mentioned. They 

 show that these winds come chiefly from the southwest, and less fre(|uently from 

 the south and west. They also confirm (as far as they go) the opinion which liad 

 begun to spring up concerning other regions. 



It is noticed that some of these heavy fruited trees and plants, instind of 

 extending from the southwest northeastward, seem to be of northern relation- hi p. 

 and extend from tlii* northwest portion of the country, mainly eastward lioiii 

 Dakota, across the great Lake Region to New England and Canada; oi', njain. 

 from Dakota and Minnesota southeastward to Indiana and Kentucky, then iMiith- 

 eastward to .\'ew F^ngland. This seems to indicate stronger west or nttrlhwest 

 winds for the late summer or fall months in the northwest. In the case of tlmse 

 plants which come southeastward to Indiana, the winds would be trom tiie north- 

 west. In Indiana they would entei the l>elt in which southwest winds prevail in 

 fall and be carried northeastward. 



There are other regions in which the ciiaracteristic range of certain plnni- is, 

 in other directions. When fullv investisiated, the writer is inclined to think that 



