283 



Fig. I, — all show parts of this low-ground area under different con- 

 ditions and from different points of view. 



On both north and south sides of Substation d, the ground is 

 high and level, but at the north end of Station I the ground is low 

 but without conspicuous marsh conditions. Early in the spring, 

 however, there are shallow pools here. Plate LXVI, Fig. 2, and 

 Plate LXVII, Fig. i show the south portion of the station, and 

 Fig. I, Plate LXXII, shows the north part. 



The whole area has a black, stiff, clay soil, except for a narrow, 

 artificial ridge of gravel near the track in places ; indeed, the natural 

 topography appears to have been little disturbed by the railway con- 

 struction work, which began about 1880. The ground of the station 

 is almost entirely covered with vegetation, chiefly herbaceous in 

 character. There is a large willow (Salix) patch at Substation d and 

 a smaller one near the north end of the station. Saplings of cotton- 

 wood (Populiis deltoides) are scattered over parts of the region, and 

 small cherry-trees are numerous about the south end. In August, 

 19 10, conspicuous herbs on the high ground were goldenrod (Soli- 

 dago), rosin-weed (SUphium), cone-flower (Lepachys pinnata), 

 mountain mint (Pyciianthemum virginianum) , and flowering spurge 

 (Buphorhia corollata) ; and there were also a number of grasses and 

 sedges, that in some cases formed tall, thick growths. On the low 

 ground, swamp milkweed (Asclepias incarnata) , rushes (Scirpus), 

 flags (Iris), and the tall reed grass were prominent. 



The fields adjoining Station I are cultivated. They were planted 

 with Indian corn during the period of observation, but in 19 13 a 

 large piece of broom-corn lay adjacent to the north half of the sta- 

 tion. Figure I, Plate LXX, shows a part of this. Because attempts 

 to grow Indian corn on the piece of low ground where there is often 

 much water have been almost failures, this has been a nearly open 

 area with a few sickly corn plants here and there and with many 

 weeds. (See Plate LXVIII, Fig. 2.) Along the road just south 

 of the station and running at right angles to it is a row of cherry 

 trees and a few Osage orange trees. (See Plate LXVI, Fig. 2, and 

 Plate LXX, Fig. 2.) The field some six hundred feet east of the 

 north part of the station surrounds a piece of uncultivated land cov- 

 ering between two and three acres. It is a small swamp with stand- 

 ing water a good part of the time — one of the few bits of undrained 

 prairie lowland left in the region about Charleston, and undoubtedly 

 a remnant of a much larger prairie slough. Vegetation is so abun- 

 dant here that the swamp looks like a compact bush patch with a few. 

 Cottonwood trees at its middle, and with a broad zone of grass, 

 sedge, and other low herbs forming its border. Figure i, Plate LXX, 



