Oct. i, 1917 Reproduction from Seed Stored in the Forest Floor 
21 
yellow pines in the true Douglas-fir type of the west slope. These 
agencies need only be stated to be understood. 
Whirlwinds.—Sudden powerful gusts of wind with unusual lifting power carry a 
few seeds of almost any species to great distances. 
Birds.—Birds deposit undigested seeds at long distances from the parent trees. 
This is especially true of migratory birds, which move when seeds are ripe and most 
likely to be eaten. 
Animals.—Animals transport seeds in their fur or caked in the mud of their feet. 
The influence of these agencies is recognized by such authorities as 
Strassburger, Clements, and by ecologists generally. The common 
occurrence of juniper (Juniperus virginiana T.) and black elder (Sam- 
bricus canadensis) along the fence rows of the Eastern States is a typical 
example of seeds distributed by birds. Moreover, an added possibility, 
in the light of the conclusions of this study, is that occasional individual 
seeds may possess very unusual powers of dormancy and so cause the 
appearance of 1- and 2-year-old seedlings as late as 10 or 15 years after 
their deposit in the forest floor. 
A storage test in the forest floor, under the forest canopy, of seeds of 
Douglas fir, silver fir, noble fir, western red cedar, western white pine, 
and western hemlock is in progress at the Wind River Forest Experi¬ 
ment Station. These tests have passed through one season with no 
germination under the forest canopy, which indicates favorable storage 
conditions. At the beginning of the second season germination tests 
showed that the seeds of all the species used were still viable. This is 
conclusive evidence that reproduction, which follows a bum of all these 
species, is not dependent on the seed crop w hich is produced during the 
season in which the fire occurs. 
Seeds recovered from the forest floor have not been germinated by 
the writer. However, Mr. D. R. Brewster, 1 in charge of the Priest 
River Experiment Station, in northern Idaho, has recovered western- 
white-pine seed from the forest floor in about the same amount and has 
secured a germination of from 2 to 20 per cent of the total number of 
seeds found. The striking thing about the germination is that even 
with ideal greenhouse conditions the larger percentage occurred during 
the second year. Seeds gathered as mentioned above showed the proba¬ 
bility of from 20,000 to 80,000 seeds per acre and a germination of from 
400 to 16,000 per acre; more than this number of seedlings has been 
actually found on bums. These facts readily explain the occurrence of 
dense stands of reproduction regardless of seed trees. 
With this stored seed in the forest floor, let there come a forest fire 
which destroys completely the forest cover over a vast area and leaves 
no seed trees, but in its rapid sweep fails to cover all of that area with 
ground fire. The main storage bulwark, the chief refrigerant, the tree 
canopy itself with its secondary undergrowth has been removed; and 
1 Unpublished data. 
