130 Canadian Forestry Journal. 



relative to the distribution of white pine seed, and, incidentally 

 to be applied to other forest seeds, which I think, is very wide 

 of the mark. Mr. Bertram says : " The seeds of the white pine 

 get blown out of those positions. .. .and are carried far and 



near over the country That is the only way white pine seed 



can distribute itself." 



Now there is no doubt that a considerable distribution takes 

 place in this way to near points, but it would only be in an ex- 

 ceiptional hurricane that these seeds would carry a mile, or even 

 half that distance. 



I tliink that there is a strong similarity in the methods by 

 which the seeds of the coniferous trees are distributed, so that 

 what will apply to spruce or fir will apply to pine. Now, in jny 

 opinion, one important source of distribution is by animals. We 

 know that it is a common habit for squirrels to carry their food' to 

 a falk'n tree for consumption. We see this done everywhere ; 

 it is very rarely that they eat sitting on the ground. Generally 

 they perch on a fallen log or a branch. Now I have frequently 

 noticed a dense growth of sapling spruce or fir in the immediate 

 vicinity of a fallen tree — in many cases you can trace this clump 

 for the full length of a fallen trunk, showing that it has at some 

 timo been the favourite feeding ground of a family of squirrels. 

 These squirrels are in turn devoured by owls, foxes and other 

 carnivora, and large quantities of undigested seeds are deposited 

 in their excreta ; and as many of them roam over a large field, 

 this method becomes an important sciirce of distribution. 



But probably the most important source of distribution, and 

 one, the study of which will lead to the most practical results, 

 is that effected by the spring flloods. The seeds dropping on the earth 

 or on the snow, in the early part of the season, are carried by the 

 rivulets which form in the melting of the snow, and are distribut- 

 ed along their entire course, many of them being carried into the 

 larger streams and deposited over large submerged areas in 

 the spring. 



The consideration of this mode of distribution should be an 

 important factor in the selection of forest reserves, as, in this 

 wav, areas selected on a watershed form not only a kind of re- 



