Forests and Forestry in Wisconsin. 145 



catalpa, in suitable latitudes, and the beautiful native and foreign 

 evergreens, and larches, that were declared, wholly unsuited to the 

 open prairie regions, but which needed only the protection from 

 the winds, that was furnished so rapidly by the pervading cotton- 

 woods that had already naturally belted the plains to the very 

 foot of the Rocky Mountains. In later years, notably in 1878, 

 others entered your field in this labor of love for the trees, with 

 what effect, you must be allowed to judge, butyou could not help 

 learning valuable lessons from the venerable Bryant's communi- 

 cations. 



One of the most valuable and suggestive papers in your reports 

 is that of Mr. Knapp, on "The vegetable belts of Wisconsin," 

 which he names as follows : 



The Canadian belt, of the north, and covering nearly one-half 

 of the state, the pine forest region, a land abounding in swamps, 

 the source of the rivers and the natural reserve of timber, to which 

 it should chiefly be devoted, for all time. 



The Ontario belt comes next, with alternating swamps and 

 sandy ridges with quite similar vegetation, only that on the sands 

 are found forests of the valuable yellow pine {pinus resinosa), 

 and in the marshes comes the larch, which supplants the arbor- 

 vita' and the spruces of the north. The deciduous timbers of the 

 north continue, with the addition of oaks, ash and hickories, with 

 maples and elms, and some beach near Lake Michigan. 



Next comes the Michigan belt, or that of the " openings." The 

 clay lands produce white oak, maples, elms and hickories. Here 

 the white and yellow birch, hemlock, spruce, fir and cedars of the 

 north do not appear, but red birch is found along the rivers. The 

 sands produce scrub pines (P. Banksiana) and scrubby oaks, while 

 burr-oaks are found in the swales. Grasses abound in the prai- 

 ries, and this is the land where a contest has long existed between 

 the herbs and the trees. 



The southern or Wisconsin belt, he calls the region of alternate 

 woods and prairies. The vegetation here is in marked contrast 

 with that in the northern belt ; few evergreens remain, and the 

 box-elder and honey locust appear. Mr. Knapp points out that 

 these belts correspond almost exactly with the isothermal and rain 

 10 — Hort. 



