20 ON THE TIMBER LANDS TRAVERSED BY A 
‘to the surface, and along them in this locality grow the first 
red or water birch met with. About seven miles from Mil- 
burn, on these surface streams, pin oak is found in the great- 
est abundance, while post oak and black-jack crown the low, 
gravelly hills. An occasional spotted birch is found along the 
foot-hills, and considerable willow along the branches. 
About eight miles from Milburn, and midway between there 
and Mayfield, the present ‘‘barrens”’ of the Purchase are en- 
tered. For a discussion of them, see the report on the Pur- 
chase timbers previously alluded to. While some of the views 
and the limits there expressed have been modified by later 
study, that is not true of the cause of the original barrens 
there given. The boundary of the present barrens, between 
Mayfield and Cadiz, seems to’ be, in this locality, Mayfield 
Creek; but this is not true further south, between Mayfield 
and Murray. I have already given reasons for believing that 
all the upland of the Purchase has, in former times, consisted 
-of barrens. 
On Mayfield Creek splendid cypress trees are found, asso- 
‘ciated with liriodendron, red birch, white and red elm, sweet 
gum, sycamore, black ash, pin oak, white oak, black gum, 
black hickory, &c., while in the upland forests beyond, toward 
Cadiz, post oak, scarlet oak, black oak, and black-jack are 
the principal timbers. On Panther Creek the timbers com- 
mon to Mayfield Creek, with the exception of cypress, are 
again found. There is a marked absence also of sweet gum, 
for which I could assign no cause. On the hills through here 
‘grow white oak (at bases), red oak, black oak, and Spanish 
‘oak (about midway), and scarlet oak, post oak, scrub shag 
hickory, and black-jack (on top). The hickory here spoken 
‘of is a mountain variety of Carya sulcata. [The distribution 
of the timbers, as affected by height above drainage, will be 
illustrated by tables and discussed further on in this report. | 
Before reaching the West Fork of Clark river, I found 
itwo chestnut bushes, about six inches in diameter, which had 
evidently sprung up from chestnuts dropped by passers-by. 
‘They had grown up to this size, and both had died, without 
190 
he: 
