Oct. i, 19x7 Reproduction from Seed Stored in the Forest Floor 
19 
some of the duff was undoubtedly burned, and consequently some of the 
stored seed. The result of this combination of circumstances was the 
occurrence, as was found, of scattered, inadequate reproduction amid 
a rank growth of deciduous brush and weeds. The reproduction was 
more plentiful in moist or depressed spots. These had an accumulation 
of duff which in a large measure escaped the ground fire and provided 
most favorable conditions for the germination and establishment of 
seedlings after the fire. 
The findings on the burns studied on the Rainier National Forest cor¬ 
roborated those established on the Columbia burn. They brought out 
also additional facts regarding the effect of the conditions of the original 
stand upon the reproduction that follows after the fire. 
When reproduction which follows a burn is destroyed by fire before it 
reaches seeding age, a denuded area results if the area lies outside the 
influence of seed trees. 
Where a stand of young growth is destroyed by fire shortly after it has 
reached seeding age, the result is, as a rule, a thin stand of reproduction. 
If the fire is severe enough to destroy all seed stored in the forest floor or 
in cones, then it results also in a barren. The reason for the light repro¬ 
duction is found in the small accumulation of duff since the previous 
fire and the greater liability to drouth and consumption by fire, and in 
the small accumulation of seed in the duff owing to the limited seed 
production by the young trees. 
The sparseness or entire lack of reproduction after a second fire in a 
young stand of timber leads to the conclusion that the source of seed from 
which the reproduction originated after the first fire was already on the 
area and did not come from outside; it points also to the great danger of 
fires in young stands of timber before they have begun to bear plentifully 
and before normal leaf litter has accumulated on the ground as a storage 
reservoir for the seed. 
GERMINATION OF SEED STORED IN DUFF 
The accumulation of seed in the forest floor is no longer a theory, but 
has been found to be an actual condition by an analysis of the duff, which 
revealed from % to 2 full seeds of Douglas fir, western white pine, and 
associated species per square foot. Of course, the age of these seeds 
could not be determined, and the depth to which they were buried can 
not be taken as an index as to how long they had been there. Very 
probably the greatest factor in storing seed is rodent activity, by which 
seeds are buried at various depths and forgotten. 
The accumulation of seed over a period of years can prove advanta¬ 
geous only if the stored seed retains its viability. With regard to this, 
each species possesses a dormancy habit of its own, and these habits 
have been growing more familiar to the forester through nursery observa¬ 
tion and experiment. Douglas fir sown in seed spots has been found 
