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originating i6 years previous to the time it was observed, and 

 this period may often be exceeded. Probably it has the same 

 capacity to invade burnt areas, though this the writer has not 

 yet observed. 



In order to obtain advantage over other species in such an 

 invasion by this means, the closed cones should preserve vital 

 seed. In the American Naturalist for November, 1909, Profes- 

 sor W. C. Coker reviews the literature on the subject, and adds 

 results of his experiments made in 1909 at the New York Botan- 

 ical Garden. An experiment is quoted as having been made by 

 Professor Sargent in 1879, on the germination of seed extracted 

 from cones of P. contorta Miirrayaiia from Colorado, sent him by 

 Dr. Engelmann. Out of 74 seeds held in cones from 7 to 10 

 years, 15, or 20 per cent., germinated. Seeds from cones 1 1 and 

 14 years old did not germinate. The seeds may have deteriorated 

 during the five years in which the branches bearing them lay in 

 St. Louis. Out of 534 seeds obtained by Professor Coker in 

 North Carolina from cones which had been persistent for periods 

 ranging from 4 to 10 years upon P. sej'otina, 226, or 42 per 

 cent., germinated in filter paper and moss, and 307, or 57 per 

 cent., in soil pots. Out of 162 seeds from cones hanging on the 

 trees for 14 years, 40 germinated by the former, and 35 by the 

 latter method, giving percentages of 25 and 22 respectively. 



If any further proof is needed that such seeds preserve their 

 vitality for a remarkably long time, the following should furnish 

 it. In experiments made by the writer in the Seed Laboratory 

 of the United States Department of Agriculture in 1904,* the 

 germinative power of seeds of lodgepole pine [P. contorta Miir- 

 rayana) which had been preserved in cones hanging on the trees 

 for a period of 10 to 30 years was compared with that of seeds 

 from cones less than 10 years old. The two lots of seed were 

 gathered by C. A. Scott at Fairplay, Colorado, in 1903, being 

 obtained at the same place and time, and stored in the same place. 

 It will be noted that the species and state were the same as Dr. 

 Engelmann's. The older seeds were separated by counting back 

 10 internodes from the ends of the branches, and picking the 

 * Germination of Pine Seed, Miscellaneous, Forest Service, U. S. Dept. Agr., 1907. 



