196 ILLINOIS ACADEMY OF SCIENCE 



forming a closed canopy; B — an under story of young 

 saplings or poles and of small trees such as chokecherry, 

 plum, and crab-apple; C — the underbrush of hazel, bram- 

 bles, dogwood, and the taller forest herbs ; D — the ground- 

 cover of sedges, grasses, herbs, and creeping vines. The 

 better moisture conditions and the shade stimulate such 

 growth, and this in decaying adds new richness to the soil. 



The junction of the east and west branches of Apple 

 River and the adjacent square mile of territory represents 

 what is probably the roughest bit of topography in Jo 

 Daviess county. Nearly one-half of the area is forest-cov- 

 ered, four of the characteristic soil types are well shown, 

 and every possible difference in slope is found. Thus a 

 rare opportunity is offered for correlating soil and forest 

 types, as well as the relation of forest types to water con- 

 tent of soil and to deeper underlying strata. All of the 

 area was originally timbered but most of the level land is 

 now cultivated, while only the slopes, ravines, cliffs, bluffs, 

 and a narrow alluvial strip along the streams are covered 

 with timber. The higher levels have yellow- gray silt loam 

 soil ; the more gentle slopes have yellow silt loam ; the 

 steep slopes are composed entirely of stony silt loam or 

 rock outcrops; while the narrow alluvial strip along the 

 river is classed as black silt loam. 



This highly diversified topography and the attendant 

 soil variations result in a very interesting forest flora of 

 markedly peculiar distribution ; at the same time the deep 

 canyon, freed from all bleak winds, and having a direction 

 such as to receive the warmest rays of the winter sun 

 favors the presence of some rare tree species and the vigor- 

 ous development of many others. This canyon floor of 

 alluvium, well watered and drained, shows very fine speci- 

 mens of red, white, and cork elm, hackberry, walnut, but- 

 ternut, red mulberry, rock maple, basswood, white ash, 

 bur, red, white, chestnut and many other oaks, and, rarest 

 of all, the coffee-bean (Gy7?inocladus dioica). Within a 

 distance of one-half mile on a strip never more than 10 

 rods wide, fifty species of trees are found. ( See appendix 

 for list. ) The very large walnut trees have been felled 

 and probably two-thirds of the valley timber has been re- 

 moved. The land, however, is practically worthless for 

 any purpose except for tree growth. The cutting off of 



