244 ILLINOIS ACADEMY OF SCIENCE 



The detailed sequence of events in any particular sta- 

 tion has been largely controlled by topography and by 

 geographic position with respect to streams and slopes, 

 which is a matter of topography. This explains the 

 emphasis laid upon topography as the controlling factor 

 in local distribution of vegetation, in an earlier passage of 

 this paper. 



Changes Brought by Settlement. 



Even as recently as sixty years ago, Cumberland county 

 was a very different kind of country. Much of the prairie 

 area was covered in spring and early summer by extensive 

 sloughs, abounding with ducks and other water and shore 

 birds. Their deeper parts persisted as permanent ponds. 

 These sloughs are now almost gone, though tile drainage 

 has not been put in extensively. Practically all of the 

 prairie upland is now under cultivation, though much of 

 it is comj^aratively unproductive. The proportion of area 

 devoted to pasture and meadow is much higher than in the 

 black land of the Wisconsin glaciation to the north. Roads 

 are numerous but unimproved. Trees are planted about 

 farm-houses, hedges are common and the more mobile 

 trees are springing up along roads, fences, and ditches. 



The forested area is thinly settled except for the fertile 

 bottoms of the larger streams, now almost entirely culti- 

 vated. Most of the xerophytic oak forest of the flat uplands 

 has been removed. The hill slopes are largely kept in 

 timber, though all of the original large trees have been 

 cut. Small sawmills are rather frequent, but are seldom 

 in steady use. Pasturing of forested areas is general and 

 in places destructive erosion has resulted. There are only 

 a, few wagon bridges across the Embarrass, which is sub- 

 ject to flood, and foot bridges of the suspension type, built 

 of wire fence, are occasionally found. 



Influence of the Shelbyville Moraine. 



The country to the north, with its newer soils of the 

 Wisconsin glaciation, is different in many ways, physio- 

 graphic, vegetational and cultural. A few of the differ- 

 ences have been hinted at in various places but a fairly 

 adequate treatment of the subject would require many 

 pages and will not be attempted here. It is here suggested 



