1856.] Ohservations on the Flora of the Western States. 13 



True it is, this is no new question. It has been agitated under every 

 administration, from that of Washington down. Our state legislatures 

 have discussed it over and over again. 



New York, for the last thirty years, has been putting forth fitful 

 efi"orts to establish an agricultural college. All have yet proved unsuc- 

 cessful. It belongs to Ohio — to the enterprising citizens of Hamilton 

 county — to have made the first successful effort at establishing a depart- 

 ment for the promotion of scientific agriculture and horticulture. H will 

 be one object of this journal to awaken and difi'use an interest on the 

 subject of Industrial University education, and as far as possible unite 

 the friends of progress in similar efforts. 



■ < ■•♦»» 



(D Ii c r n a t i 11 5 on t j) i^ 1 1 d r a a f • t h r l^* r s t r r n 1 1 n t f s 



The intelligent traveler, who, with a mind awake to the teachings 

 of nature, surveys the phenomena of different and distant lands, can 

 not fail to notice that each region presents something peculiar in the 

 aspect of its vegetation. If his observation has been sufficiently exten- 

 sive, he has noticed the general fact that the vital force and luxuriance 

 of the plant-world increases with the increase of solar heat, from the 

 poles to the equator^ and also that the same gradation is repeated on 

 mountains, in miniature zones, from the summit downward. Moreover, 

 the different geological formations, surface configurations, soil, etc., 

 impress varying characters upon the flora of each region, not to be 

 mistaken. The native rushes, which rejoice in the bogs, would starve on 

 upland plains, and those bright forms which luxuriate on these plains 

 are unknown on the Alpine summits. We do not search for ferns in 

 the rich meadow, nor for flags on the hill-tops. But on the other hand, 

 the experienced botanist can generally predict what species of plants 

 will be found in any given locality. 



Upon facts and phenomena like these, a great deal of observation has 

 been bestowed, and the outlines of a new science founded. In the 

 •' Geography of Plants," the world is distributed by botanists into about 

 twenty-five plant-regions, each distinguished by a peculiar flora, and 

 named in honor of some botanist, who has especially distinguished him- 

 self in its investigation. For .example, the region of the Saxifrages 

 and the Mosses, or Wahlenherg's region, in arctic latitudes, north of 



