260 



OHIO BIOLOGICAL SURVEY 



of the Hocking- bottom between Lancaster and i^ogan except tlie swamps 

 described below and a few lai'ge trees standing in the fields into which 

 it has been converted (fig. 6). Many of these, however, have either come 

 up from seed since the forest was cut otf or were very young at that time, 

 for they show no traces of ever having been crowded by near neighbors. 

 One of them, a sugar maple {Acrr. sacdiarum), known as "The Queen 

 of the Valley (figs. 6 and 7), is the most perfect specimen of a round- 

 topped shade tree known to the writer. Whether this bottom-land was 

 originally covered with associations similar to those of rivei's in othei 

 parts of the state or whether it partook of the features of the mixed 

 forest of the "coves" cannot now be determined. Farmers who wdth 

 their parents before them have always lived in the valley know nothing 

 of the time when the land was generally clothed with forest. The last 



Fig. 5. The Hocking Valley at Sugar Grove. 

 Tlic hillsides still forested and largely in their natural condition, lowland and ujiland lioth 



cleared and cultivated. 



vestige of the forest, a little patch of only a few^ acres, was cleared away, 

 so the writer is informed, al;out fifteen years ago. It is said to have 

 contained some very large sycamore trees, with an admixture of some 

 other species. 



