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NATURALIST'S GUIDE TO THE AMERICAS 



tation; many bog plants not usually 

 found north of New Jersey. "Scene of 

 Indian Fislit, King Phillips War," 

 marked by monument. 



Wickford Junction, 11 mi. southwest, 

 N. Y. N. H. & H. R. R. Two mi. north 

 from Kenyon. R. I. Historical Society. 



* Fort Neck. (B4.) 19 acres along 

 northeast shore of Charlestown Pond; 

 boggy areas along pond; scattered red 

 cedars ; shrubs along brooks ; flat. Alton 

 stony loam, Warwick sandy loam. 20 

 ft. Controlled by Secretary of State. 



Westerly, 11 mi. east, N. Y. N. H. & 

 H. R. R. 6 mi. south from Wood River 

 Junction. 



6. NEW YORK 



By William L. Bray 



i, general conditions — the physio- 

 graphic units or complexes and 

 their association types 



In this connection one should have in 

 mind a picture of the orographic fea- 

 tures of the State: highlands, such as the 

 Adirondacks, Catskills, Shawnugunks, 

 Hudson Highlands, Allegheny plateau, 

 and their dissections; river valleys and 

 their tributary erosion channels, gorges, 

 etc.; lake basin lands, sand plains, wet 

 lands of sea coast, and inland bog and 

 swampland. It is quite essential for 

 one considering the physiography of 

 New York State and its attendant 

 natural life conditions to take account 

 of conditions created by glacial agency — 

 notably deeply cut channels (Finger 

 Lakes), the extensive wearing down of 

 highlands and filling of lowlands, piling 

 up of morainic debris, drumlins, etc., 

 and the consequent blocking of drainage 

 channels or creation of water-filled 

 basins, thus resulting in a myriad of 

 lakes. 



It will be recognized that physio- 

 graphic features exercise a determining 

 influence upon the character of the 

 native vegetation and its associated 

 animal life. 



Conditions of rainfall and humidity 

 in this state are such that the natural 



expression of plant life is in the form 

 of a final, relatively stable, high forest, 

 but local conditions of physiography 

 modify this theoretical condition so 

 that, regarded as a whole, the State 

 presents a mosaic of vegetation aspects — 

 filling lakes, marsh land, wet meadows, 

 swamp forest, bogs, pine heaths, spruce 

 slopes, virgin forest, etc., with their 

 associated animal life. It further adds 

 to the interest in and appreciation of our 

 wild life conditions to observe that, 

 because of the effects which the vegeta- 

 tion especially exerts upon the land and 

 of the natural cause of erosion and filling 

 and leveling these various mosaic pat- 

 terns of vegetation are not static — 

 permanent — but tend to follow a course 

 of evolution toward the final climax or 

 stable type of plant society — the high 

 forest. For ' this reason, it becomes 

 desirable in suggesting areas for reserva- 

 tion to have in mind those which may be 

 subjects of study through a course of 

 years to determine phenomena and 

 causes of this evolution of natural 

 plant and animal communities. 



Original vegetation, a complex of 

 forest types predominating: Some open 

 prairies wdth groves (Erie County) ; 

 marsh lands (coast of Long Island, 

 Montezuma marshes); swamp forest, 

 bogs (Ontario basin and especially in 

 the Adirondacks), sand plains with pure 

 stands of white pine (Albany-Schenec- 

 tady Plattsburg, Black River pine plains 

 near Carthage); mountain summit vege- 

 tation above timber line (related to 

 Arctic-Alpine). 



Climax forest cover heavy and of 

 large growth embracing the following 

 zonal types: (1) Sweet gum {Liquidam- 

 bar styraciflua) , oaks, hickories, chestnut 

 [Castanea dentala), and tiilip tree {Lirio- 

 dendron tulipifera) , of the lower Hudson 

 and adjacent Long Island and Staten 

 Island with occasional yellow pine 

 (Pinus echinata); (Carolinian); (2) 

 Oak, hickory, chestnut, tulip tree of 

 middle Hudson, Delaware, and Sus- 

 quehanna drainage, and the Ontario 

 basin (Carolinian related) ; (3) Suga 

 maple {Acer saccharum), beech {Fagu 



