258 ILLINOIS ACADEMY OF SCIENCE 



Only 20 or 30 acres in Section 14 are sufficiently free from 

 grazing to permit any reproduction. While it is evident 

 that there was formerly some selective cutting of the bet- 

 ter timber from this area it has been little disturbed for 

 jnanj years as shown by its trees ranging from seedlings 

 to those 24 or even 30 inches in diameter. Oaks constitute 

 80 per cent of the stand, the red, white and bur oak being 

 abundant with an occasional black oak. Next in im- 

 portance are shagbark hickory and elm with occasional 

 black cherrry, sugar maple and hop hornbeam. It is be- 

 lieved that this area represents very closely the character 

 of the original stand over three-fourths of the wooded area 

 of this and neighboring townships. This upland oak for- 

 , est in the rest of the township is pastured and culled, 

 \ largely by the removal of the valuable white oak, and is 

 now a more or less open stand of trees mostly from 6 to 15 

 inches in diameter. At its northern limit it begins as a 

 grove of bur oaks in Section 10. Much of the bottom for- 

 est has been cleared away, some quite- recently. The prin- 

 cipal remnants are to be found in Section 25 and in the 

 southern part of Section 11. Some 10 acres of the former 

 on the east bank of the main branch of the Vermilion is 

 open "walnut bottom" with trees from 10 to 20 inches in 

 diameter, evidently from their high branching developed 

 in a much closer stand. 



A 40 acre lot of open pastured forest situated in Sec- 

 tion 25 between the two main branches of the Little Ver- 

 milion is typical of other smaller areas. The stand is 

 open, pastured, without undergrowth and well grassed 

 over. Although probably originally possessing a large 

 percentage of oak only a few bur oak trees remain and the 

 tree population is a mixture of American and slippery 

 elm, white and black ash, walnut, and sugar maple with a 

 smaller number of butternut, black willow, buckeye, and 

 honey locust (Gleditsia triacanthos). 



A little farther down the stream in Section 35 the white 

 and red oaks are present but the maple and walnut prac- 

 tically disappear while black oak (Qiiercus velutina) and 

 shagbark hickory become plentiful in an open stand in 

 which numerous thorn apples (Crataegus spp. j and a few 

 red cedar also appear. The trees are mostly from 6 to 20 

 inches across and oaks and hickory constitute 80 per cent 

 of the stand. 



