126 MICHIGAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCE. 



swarded and wooded and at their base lies Oak Grove cemetery, back of 

 which is a small timber-land forest which becomes birch woods at the 

 point where the dunes cease. North of this point there are some fine 

 farms. About midway between Oak Grove cemetery and Bar Lake is 

 Orchard Beach park. Here the shore of Lake Michigan is wet and spongy 

 and covered with a beautiful growth of arbor vit.T>. 



Bar Lake lies close to the beach of Lake Michigan. At high water it 

 flows into Lake Michigan, but a narrow sand bar ordinarily keeps the two 

 lakes apart. The north shore of Bar Lake is sandy, and the pine and oak 

 barrens reappear there, but the south shore is wet and low and a large 

 marsh meadow stretches to the forest. This begins as alluvial bottom 

 land, continues as beech and maple timber lands, and finally becomes oak 

 openings (originally pine). 



Northeast of Manistee lie the bluffs of Manistee river covered with a 

 forest of oak and pine. North of East lake are large swampy tracts, and 

 eastward is more oak and pine forest, broken by occasional bogs. 



The weather of Manistee during 1900 was, I am told, hardly typical. 

 April was warm and towards its close the trailing arbutus was in blos- 

 som, but the months of May and June were cold, the spring consequently 

 was long and vegetation backward. July also was cold. August was 

 warm, and the autumn delightful. There was scarce any frost till the 

 fore part of November, and the snow of winter fell upon leaves still green 

 and asters in full bloom. The rainfall was excessive during the whole 

 season. The grass at no time was parched, and the vegetation conse- 

 quently was at its best. 



ECOLOGY. 



The flora of the regions about Manistee falls into five principal divi- 

 sions: First, The shore and dune vegetation of J^ake Michigan. Second, 

 The coniferous woods of northern Michigan, now being rapidly trans- 

 formed into oak lands, thus coalescing with any original oak openings 

 there may have been. Third, The alluvial bottoms and beech and maple 

 timber lands. Fourth, The swamp, marsh and aquatic flora. Fifth, Weeds 

 and plants owing their presence to the agency of man. A few parasites 

 and saprophytes remain to be added. 



But these*^ divisions need to be subdivided according as xerophytic, 

 mesophytic, or hydrophytic features predominate. The following table 

 exhibits the formations as they may be separated according to the relative 

 lack or abundance of water, the nature of the soil, etc. 



I. Xerophytes. 



A. Beach of Lake Michigan (Littorales). 



B. Shifting sands of dunes, etc. (Arenarise). 



C. Sandy banks of Lake Michigan (Riparise). 



D. Swarded and wooded dunes (Sylvales et Pratenses). 



E. Dry sandy margins of lakes (Marginales). 



F. Pine and oak barrens (Siccatae et Steriles). 



II. Mesophytes. , 



A. Clay banks of Lake Michigan (Riparise). 



B. Pine and oak forests (Sylvales). 



C. Timber lands (Sylvales). 



D. Birch woods (Sylvales). 



E. Alluvial bottoms (Alluviales). 



