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much to our knowledge of the peculiar vegetation of the central portions of the state. I cannot resist the temptation to copy a few of his very graphic descriptions:
"In a geographical point of view, the surface of Illinois may be very appropriately, as it is naturally, divided into three dis-tricts. First-- the heavily timbered tracts which, for the most part, occupy the southern portion of the state, bordering on the Ohio river, and which, extending into the middle and northern portions, are found in detached bodies, surrounded by prairies, and in these situations are called 'groves.' These groves are, for the most part, contiguous to and often bounded by water courses, which have preserved them from the action of fire. Secondly-- the open prairies of from one to twenty miles in diameter, entirely destitute of trees, and indeed of all other woody plants, except along the margin of water courses which occasionally pervade them. Thirdly-- the 'barrens,' or tracts somewhat intermediate between the two former, being sparsely covered with oak trees of several different kinds, andn of considerable size, with a dense un-dergrowth of various shrubs and annual plants. The third region bears a close relationship, both in appearance and productions, to the districts in Kentucky, which are called 'barrens'-- tracts of country which seem to be in a state of transition from more open prairies to densely timbered forests. The vegetation of these three districts is, of course, essentially different; but apart from the presence of absence of trees, which constitute the grand feature of distinction, the annual and suffruticose plants are wide-ly different,a nd indeed in many respects entirely dissimilar. Even the productions of the open prairies vary greatly as the sur-face of the prairie may be high, rolling, rich and dry, or low, flat, wet and clayey.
"On fairly entering the prairie region, and reaching the centre of one of these immense natural meadows, the view presented to the eye of a novice in such scenery is one of the most pleasing sort. But beautiful, imposing, and even grand, as is this spectacle, I must own that, in a botanical point of view, I was disap-pointed. The flora of the prairies--the theme of so much ad-miration to those who view them with an ordinary eye-- does not, when closely examined by the botanist, present that deep interest and attraction which he has been led to expect. Its leading fea-ture is rather the unbounded profusion with which a few species occur, in certain localities, than the mixed variety of different.