1900] Fernald, — Some Jesuit influences upon our flora 141 
voyage on the St. John. Once started, however, on that river or its 
tributaries, it would require only a few years for such plants to gain a 
firm footing along the entire valley. 
It will be remembered that the hawkweed (Hieracium vulgatum) 
is generally found in the neighborhood of water-falls and that the field 
sow-thistle, likewise, is apt to grow in similar places. Compared with 
the campion and the mugwort, neither of these plants produces many 
seed — the hawkweed rarely has more than a single clear-yellow head. 
May it not be that these plants were established in. such spots by the 
voyageurs, who, when they came to the falls, would, in making the 
portage, shake out or at least disturb their blankets; and, though long 
established, the plants have never spread far, like the campion and 
the mugwort, because of their smaller number of seed ? 
Beside the original voyageurs and the river currents, there are 
other factors which have doubtless had a large share in the spreading 
of plants on the St. John. Reference is made to the Acadian settlers 
of the Madawaska region, and likewise to the modern canoeman and 
river-driver, though compared with the Acadians, their share has been 
a small one. The upper St. John valley from the Grand Falls to the 
Allaguash was long ago settled by Acadians. These people were 
largely those who came up the river after the pathetic expulsion of 
1755. Fora century and a half they have passed their simple out- 
door lives in comparative isolation. During most of that time their chief 
means of conveyance have been various forms of bateaux ; and even 
now, with railroads rapidly tapping the country, many a solitary farmer 
from the St. Francis, the Allaguash, or the region toward Seven Islands 
annually fills his “ dug-out " with oats or buckwheat and floats down 
stream to the mill at Fish River (Fort Kent of the Yankees). The 
constant travel of these people is the most effective means of spread- 
ing plants from the mouths toward the sources of the streams. 
In this discussion little attention is paid to the early voyages of 
the Northmen, of John and Sebastian Cabot, of Gaspar Cortereal, of 
the Portuguese fishermen and their contemporaries early in the six- 
teenth century. They may have brought to this continent plants of 
European origin; but their cruising was chiefly along shore, and their 
settlements, when made, were only small and temporary, so that it is 
doubtful if they materially influenced the character of our northern 
flora. At any rate, there is nothing to suggest that they brought to us 
the four plants we are considering. 
