MIXED CROP OP UNIFORM AGE. 67 



herbaceous grasses, of Asdept'adece, ApocynecB, elms, &c. For in- 

 stance, hundreds and thousands of young Stereo sper mum suaveolens 

 will be found covering several square miles of ground, which do 

 not contain a single fertile tree of that species. 



Then again, water may transport seed over long distances, as is 

 strikingly illustrated by tamarisk, babul, sissu, khair, cocoanuts, 

 &c. Another interesting example of this may be quoted. The 

 nearest limit of the true region of Anogeissus pendula from the 

 northern boundary of British Nimar is not less than 150 miles 

 along the course of the Narbada and its tributaries : nevertheless 



O 



the immediate banks of that river, where it runs through the dry 

 Vindhyan barrier north of Punasa, are covered in places with a 

 dense low growth of that species, the outcome of seed brought down 

 the river and arrested there. But it is not the action of large vo- 

 lumes of water alone that is effective ; in a less striking manner, 

 but on a considerably more extensive scale, the slight depth of water 

 that rushes over tjie surface of the ground when heavy rain is falling, 

 suffices to produce extensive displacements of seeds, so that while 

 in some places with numerous seed-bearers overhead, all the seeds 

 shed may be washed away, other places containing no seed-bearing 

 trees of a certain species may get plentifully sown with seed of 

 that species, 



But the transport of seed is facilitated not only by its lightness 

 or its appendages, or by water, but also by its edibility. Thus 

 the heavy seed of Diospyros Melanoxylon is disseminated far and 

 wide by bears, jackals, birds, men, &c., who are greedily fond of its 

 sweet pulpy fruit. So with various species of Zizyplms, with 

 Gmelhia arborea, Myrica $apida,, Schleichera trijuga, Buchanania 

 latifolia, the sandalwood tree, wild pear, Terminalia belerica, babul, 

 Tetranthei'as, Michelia Champaca, &c. In a large part of the 

 Changa Manga Plantation an abundant undergrowth of mulberry 

 has come up under the original pure sissu crop from seeds dropped 

 by birds. Birds are also active distributors of the seeds of the 

 various species of Ficus and Loranthacece, depositing them on their 

 future hosts in places favourable for their reception. But animals, 

 by swallowing seeds, not only disseminate them, but also accelerate 

 their germination, the secretions of their stomachs and intestines 

 producing a favourable reaction on the reserve matter. Thus, in 

 babul groves in the Deccan, the penning of goats for a few days un- 

 der them, when the fruit is ripe, results in the formation of a 

 dense carpet of seedlings, which otherwise are not produced in any 

 great numbers. 



