31 



that seeds that germinate but poorly in the germinating apparatus, 

 where the conditions of temperature and humidity are as favorable 

 as possible, do so still more unsatisfactorily, if at all, in the seed 

 bed. Hence it obviously follows that seeds proving a real value 

 of only 5 10% by the artificial tests may be considered worthless. 



Whether Abies concolor (glauca) from the Rocky Mountains 

 and A. concolor (A. lasiocarpa) from the Cascade Range and the 

 Sierra Nevada, are the same, or two separate species, authorities 

 are not agreed. The seed from the coast of the Pacific is somewhat 

 larger than that from the Rocky Mountains, but this is naturally 

 not conclusive. I believe that it will ultimately be decided that we 

 are here dealing with two different strains of the same species; 

 for, according to my experience, seed from high elevations near 

 the Pacific coast produces greyish blue plants of somewhat weak 

 growth; plants, indeed, which resemble the Rocky Mountain ones, 

 much more than the vigorous green Abies concolor from seed 

 from the lowland forests of the Pacific coast. 



The difference between these two types, however, is not nearly 

 so great as that between the quick growing green Douglas Fir 

 from the Pacific coast and the much slower growing glaucous 

 Douglas from the Rocky Mountains or between the very quick 

 growing Shore Pine (Pinus contorta) of the Pacific coast and the 

 slow growing Lodgepole Pine (P. Murrayana) from the Rocky 

 Mountains, which latter two are generally in my opinion er- 

 roneously - - considered as one very variable species. 



The best and worst germination results obtained with various 

 species of Abies during the whole period are as follows: 



Germination in per cent after 10 20 30 60 100 days 



Abies amabilis 189697 2 55 



191011 1 



arizonica 190102 61 70 



190607 7 12 



balsamea, Danish seed 1904 05 14 62 66 68 



188990 7 9 

 over a 



year old, 190708 30 52 57 



balsamea, Danish seed over 



a year old, 191011 4 25 26 



