100 KORKST DISTRIBUTION 



in tin 1 experimental opcrat ions ( ompared under dissimilar con- 

 ditions. The seeds within one year of their production showed 

 from :> to .~>4'< defective in different lots mid species ;is deter- 

 mined by physical examination, while in the beds none of them 

 showed more than 10.4'"' viable, although the most favorable 

 conditions wen- provided. This estimate of viable seeds, how- 

 ever. is doubtless much too low, owing- to the fact that it was 

 based upon the number surviving at the end of the first season. 

 The percentage of response in germination showed no relation 

 to the percentage of apparently viable seeds by dissection. Thus 

 where I'tiius i>oit(l< rox showed !>T' viable by dissection 10.4% 

 actually produced seedlings, while the same species in another 

 lot showed 94% apparently sound there resulted only 7.7% of 

 seedlings, and in the case of the spruce the figures were respec- 

 tively 91% and 2.8% for one lot and 74% and 3% for another. 

 The only constant relation revealed by the studies seemed to be 

 that the time required for germination is inversly proportioned 

 to the number of seeds responding, or, in other words, percentage 

 of germination and rapidity of response were directly propor- 

 tional, a condition to be expected. The results obtained from 

 the few species examined and experiments conducted under the 

 favorable/ conditions of cultivation suggest that the rate of 

 propagation in the field under natural conditions must be very 

 much less. It is seen also that radical differences obtain be- 

 tween seeds from different sources, as to size, soundness, and 

 response in ireniiinatioii. facts which must weigh in the final 

 determination of the place which each species must occupy in 

 the different parts of its range. 



Observation of the seedlings of this planting through a peri- 

 od of several years shows a marked acceleration of growth in 

 liciL'lit after tin- second year in nearly every Case, being least in 

 tip- KiiLrelmann sprue.- and most in the larch. 'Flic 'jivatesl, 

 growth in height at the end of the first season was 4 J L . inches 

 in tb' Hoipjlas spruce, at the end of the second season 



the larch with 1:'> inches and at the end of the fourth with 59 

 iii'-h.-s. Th,. Don-bis spruce reached a height of 22 inches at 

 the end of the fourth year, the yellow pine _!.'> inches, the white 

 pine 1::. the lodu'cpole -21 ., m j the spruce Ki. though the latter 

 was exceptional, the liciirhls in other lots of the spruce being 



