MIXED CEOP or UNIFOBM AGE. 63 



that the oaks grow less abundantly on steep than on moderate 

 slopes 1 



SlI. gEEDiNGl.— This condition may be considered under six 

 subheads, as fdllows : — ■ 



(a) Its relative abundance. — It is evident that, other circum- 

 stances being identical, a species that produces abundant crops of 

 seed -vrill, even if at first in the minority, secure an easy predomi- 

 nance. Instances of pi'ofusely-seeding species are bamboos and 

 the grasses generally (facile principes), sal, sissu, deodar, Quercus 

 incana and iemecarpifolia, Pinus longifolia, teak, >&c. In Mauritius 

 Tetrantheras, Alhizzia Lehheh^ and other trees, introduced from In- 

 dia but seeding more abundantly than the indigenous trees, now 

 occupy by themselves entire hillsides. 



Considering any one species by itself we may say that the ab- 

 undance of its seeding at any time will depend — -■ 



(i) On its age: the older a tree is, provided it is not in -full de- 

 cline, the larger will be its crown and hence the more fruit will it 

 bear. 



(ii) On the soil; the better the soil is, the larger will be the 

 crown of the tree and the more nourishment will it be able to draw 

 up and elaborate for the formation and ripening of fruit. 



(iii) On the climate of the locality : the more favourable the 

 chmate is, the more vigorous and better developed will be the tree 

 and the larger the quantity of superfluous food it can elaborate to 

 store up in the seed; hence greater fruitfulness, the nearer it is to 

 the heart of its habitat, especially if the species in question is 

 accommodating in- respect of climate, and extends over a wide 

 area. 



(iv) On the degree of exposure to light; for without slifiicient 

 illumination the crown will be spare and incomplete, and most, if 

 not all, the food it can elaborate will be used up for its own deve- 

 lopment. Vegetative vigour is, under normal conditions, always 

 greater than sexual vigour, and heilce, unless there is more food 

 than what the development of shoots and leaves can utihse, sexual 

 vigour will remain dormant or hardly manifest itself. 



(v) On the character of the current season : the temperature 

 may be too low or too high for the production or development of 

 flower buds or for the formation and ripening of the seed ; too 

 much moisture being present in the soil just before the flowers are 

 due, foliage may be developed at the expense of the flowers ; the 

 development of foliage buds being checked by a dry season, the 

 superfluous reserve matter stored up from the preceding season or 



