1867.] ^I'J . [Uayden 



tured, I think, on sufficient grounds to separate the American from 

 the European species. Found as it is in the uncultivated interior of 

 the continent, beyond the reach of inhabitants, our plant must neces- 

 sarily be indigenous. I have compared the present with the foreign 

 plant with some attention, and can in all cases readily distinguish 

 them by their foliage. In the American plant, whatever be the other 

 variations of the leaf, the attenuated points are toothed nearly to the 

 extremity. In the European, the summit of the leaf is abruptly 

 toothed. In the mature plant, the male flowers appear to be smaller, 

 and the scales of the cones are likewise acuminate. In some speci- 

 mens, as in the European plant, the upper leaves are simply cordate 

 and entire, but in all cases the denticulations are smaller and more 

 numerous." Dr. Gambel found the hop in the Rocky Mountains, 

 on the line of 3Iexico, growing most luxuriantly. From the various 

 reports of travellers, it seems to be widely distributed throughout the 

 country west of the Mississippi. In the broad bottoms of the Valley 

 of the Missouri River, it grows in the greatest luxuriance twining 

 upon the largest trees, and producing its ament-like fruit in the 

 greatest quantities. It is found in almost every ravine and valley of 

 a stream from the foot of the mountains to the Mississippi. A brewer 

 at the mouth of the Niobrara, Dakota Territory, has attempted to 

 utilize it with some success. 



4. Plantatjo mnjor, is considered in the Flora Cestrica as truly a 

 foreigner, a naturalized foreigner, remarkable for accompanying civ- 

 ilized man, growing along his footpaths, and flourishing around his 

 settlements. Introduced from Europe according to Beck. Dr. Rich- 

 ardson finds it from Lake Huron to latitude 68°. It has also been 

 found in Newfoundland and Labrador. De Schweinitz says, there is 

 no place where it is not introduced. Along the Missouri River, 

 about the trading-posts, and along some of the principal thorough- 

 fares of the West, this plant is occasionally seen, but seldom or 

 never observed in the interior remote from the haunts of men. It 

 was observed in 1859 on the wooded bottoms of the Missouri River, 

 between Fort Clark and Fort Pierre, at least two hundred miles from 

 any human habitation, under circumstances such as to lead one to 

 suspect that it might be indigenous, but it is hardly probable. 



The climate of the Upper Missouri district is somewhat peculiar. 

 There seems to be what may be called two seasons, a wet and a dry 

 season. The wet season usually commences about the middle of 

 March, and continues until the middle of May. During this period 

 the rains are frequent and severe, sometimes continuing for thirty 



