382 GRIGGS: EDGE OF FOREST IN ALASKA 
were less than a foot in diameter. These small plants contrasted 
strongly with those seen later at Kalsin Bay about 55 miles north- 
westward, which were large trees 60-80 feet tall and 2 feet in 
diameter. Very much to our regret in view of the conditions later 
found on the edge of the spruce forest we did not obtain data as 
to the comparative ages of these trees. 
As opportunity presented, observations were made on the fruit- 
ing habits of the spruce and the birch; the poplar was not seen in 
fruit. Most of the trees of both species bore little fruit but some 
few of them were fruiting copiously. This matter varies much, 
Fic. 1. Stunted Alaskan spruce (Picea sitchensis) on Afognak Island, near the edge 
of its range 
however, from season to season. Fernow* reports that the year 
1898 was a heavy seed year for the spruces, which bore an enormous 
crop of cones, which, turning brown and persisting on the branches 
through the summer of 1899, ‘“‘gave the trees at a distance the 
appearance of having been killed by fire.’’ 
Near the edge of the spruce forest it appeared very evident 
*Fernow, B. E. The forests of Alaska. Harriman Alaska Exped. 2: 245- 
IQIO. 
