

602 Smith : Biographical Sketch of 



Among the first of these publications were " The Forests of 

 Alabama and their Products " ; and " The Grasses and other For- 

 age Plants of Alabama," both written for Berney's Hand Book of 

 Alabama, 1878, but afterwards amplified and published by the 

 Department of Agriculture. In 1878, at the solicitation of the 

 writer of these lines, he undertook the preparation for the Geolog- 

 ical Survey of a normal herbarium of Alabama plants, based upon 

 the collections made by himself and the writer. In 1880 we pub- 

 lished a "Preliminary List of the Plants growing without Cultiva- 

 tion in Alabama," in which were enumerated the flowering plants 

 and ferns up to that time collected and in the herbarium, number- 

 ing about 1,500 species. The expansion and elaboration of this 

 modest " List " has just been published as " Plant Life of Alabama. 

 In similar manner and chiefly through his efforts, the normal her- 

 barium of Alabama plants above mentioned, has grown to be one 



t 



of the most valuable of the collections of the Geological Survey in 

 the Museum of the University of Alabama. In his honor it is now 

 known as the Charles Molir Herbarium. 



His full and accurate knowledge of the natural resources of the 

 Southern States, and his taste and skill in arranging and installing 

 collections of various kinds, were often brought into requisition by 



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the railroads, especially the Louisville and Nashville, and by the 

 Department of Agriculture at Washington, and he made a num- 

 ber of illustrative collections of the varied resources of the terri- 

 tories traversed by these lines for the expositions of New Orleans, 

 Louisville, and Atlanta, and prepared pamphlets descriptive of the 

 same, such as "The Economic Geology of Alabama," 4 '1he 

 Natural Resources of Alabama," " The Soils, Climate, and Agri- 

 cultural Resources of the Territory traversed by the L. and N. 



R. R. Lines." 



nd 



These pamphlets were characterized by a scientific spirit a 

 truth to nature, and of them it has been remarked by Professor 

 Lamson-Scribner, that they can " in no way mislead the reader or 

 prospective settler.' ' For the Tenth Census he prepared a Report 

 on the Forestry Conditions of the Gulf States, and while engaged 

 in this work he collected for the Alabama Geological Survey, and 

 for the Arboretum at Harvard and for the Jesup Collection at the 

 American Museum of Natural History, the sections of the trunk* 

 of the forest trees which adorn the halls of these institutions. 



