"JS It ) WA AC A I) K M y ni- sf 1 1-. X c ;■ s. 



Of the liiii'licr loriiif^ -especially tlic HowcriiiL;- [)laiits — the 

 cutaloi^iK'S by Prof. J. C Arthur in the [jrocoodiuofs of the 

 Davenport Academy may he taken as fairly complete for the 

 State, hut in the lower ur()U[)s — to judife hy the nuinher of 

 recent additions — the list is hut heoini, n!iile their relations 

 to ai>ricultui-e call for careful study. Kven for t!ie hetter 

 known })art of the flora there is work for local collectors in 

 determinino- the richness of their localities, in tixina' the 

 houndaries of species, or recordini;- the proiri'ess of invadinu' 

 forms. 



Amono" the lower forms, whose presence is of so nnu h iu)- 

 portance as sources of disease to both animals and jjlants, 

 we have onr full quota, and, while many of these are of 

 equal importance elsewhere, there is eveiy reason to push 

 their investi<i-ation on Iowa soil. The mildews, rusts and 

 hlio-hts as well as the hosts of hactei'ial forms present us with 

 an array of problems so vital to the well-beini;- of the com- 

 munity that it is not strani>e we sliouid hud investigations in 

 progress on all hands. It is to be hoped that the State of 

 lowu shall producer its full share of investigators and reap as 

 rich rewards as other States in the harvest of discoveries that 

 have hut begun. In this branch of study we have the con- 

 tributions by Prof. i\ E. Bessey, also nunu'rous papers by 

 Dr. J. C. Arthur, Dr. B. D. Halsted. Prof. T. 11. McBride, 

 Dr. C. M. Hobby and others. 



I have already mentioned briefly the existcMice of the 

 various geological surveys of the State. The first organ- 

 ized under the general government as the Northwest sur- 

 vey, and embracing \\'iseonsin, Iowa and Minnesota. So far 

 as Iowa was concerned it must be considered as but a par- 

 tial reconnaissance, and scarcely more than touched upon the 

 geological problems in the State which are of most vital in- 

 terest to her people and the science. It went far enough, 

 however, to locate in general the different geological areas 



