10 JOURNAL OF THE ARNOLD ARBORETUM [vol. iv. 



incumbrance to the land. In the lumbering districts it is not uncommon 

 to see merchantable timber being felled and removed at the lowest possible 

 present cost without regard to conserving the younger growth, which 

 indeed is often later wantonly destroyed by fire, leaving large tracts as 

 barren wastes incapable of reforesting themselves and quite worthless for 

 agricultural or even for grazing purposes. In other sections the work of 

 drainage and levee building is restricting more and more the swamp lands 

 where formerly the Bald Cypress and other species flourished. Even 

 where detached areas of the forest remain, almost everywhere within the 



region we are considering, many of the finer and more valuable trees have 

 been culled out, and often in the vicinity of cities or centers of industry 

 certain species are nearing extinction and others of foreign introduction 

 are becoming mixed with the native growth. In spite of all these inroads, 

 however, we of the present generation may still congratulate ourselves on 

 the fact that in many remote places considerable remnants of the forest 

 do remain, where it is possible to observe many phases of it practically 

 under primitive conditions. It is perhaps needless to point out that the 

 botanists of the future will not be so fortunate; for even though present 

 destructive tendencies should be checked and the reverse prevail, the 

 things restored will not be as they were in the beginning, and planting or 

 even scientific forest management, desirable as they may be, must destroy 

 to some extent the natural, primitive conditions so important to the 

 scientific investigator. 



Among localities in the southern portion of the great forest belt of 

 eastern North America, which have been somewhat thoroughly explored 

 by representatives of the Arnold Arboretum within the last few years, the 

 following may be mentioned as examples in various ways possessing 

 exceptional interest for the dendrologist. The vicinity of Selma, Dallas 

 County, Alabama; the valley of White River and its tributaries in the 

 Ozark region of southern Missouri and northern Arkansas; a section of the 

 Kiamichi Mountains near Page, Le Flore County, Oklahoma; the canyons 

 of the Guadalupe, Sabinal, Frio, Nueces and other streams in the Edwards 

 plateau of southwestern Texas; the vicinity of San Augustine, in eastern 

 Texas, and that of Fulton, on Red River, in southwestern Arkansas. 



Considerable work has been done by agents of the Arboretum in each 

 of these localities, the results of which is represented by large collections 



preserved in the herbarium; many interesting trees and shrubs brought 



into cultivation here for the first time and descriptions of a number of 

 species and varieties new to science that have appeared in its publications 

 from time to time. 



Selma, Alabama, which has furnished one of the largest lists of woody 

 plants of any locality in the United States, has not been visited by the 

 writer. Professor R. S. Cocks, of Tulane University, and Mr. T. G. 

 Harbison, however, have made large collections there and Professor 

 Sargent has also visited it. A brief account of some of the peculiar plants 



