260 ILLINOIS ACADEMY OF SCIENCE 



Two groups of wood lots or forest remnants constitute 

 the bulk of the standing timber in the township and are 

 associated respectively with the western swing of the Lit- 

 tle Vermilion in Sections 2 and 3 and with the confluence 

 of this stream and Tomahawk Creek. The former amounts 

 to slightly over 150 acres, mostly of second growth trees 

 having a diameter of 6 to 10 inches. At least 75 per cent 

 are oaks, the white, black and red being most abundant 

 with smaller numbers of swamp white oak, shagbark 

 hickory, ash and elm. Locally the stand is fairly close 

 but grazing is so heavy that there is no evidence of any 

 reproduction during the last two decades. Stumps scat- 

 tered through pastures prove that the area recently cut 

 over exceeds that of standing timber. 



Through the southern half of the township the flood 

 plain is partially cleared but some open stands of ash, 

 sycamore, cotton wood and elm remain in narrow strips. 

 The one exception is within the angle formed by the Ver- 

 milion and Tomahawk Creek in Section 34 where 50 acres 

 are rather closely covered with a mixture of bur oak, elm, 

 ash and walnut, with smaller amounts of butternut and 

 sycamore. Willow, wdld crab and prickly-ash form most 

 of the undergrowth. 



This township resembles many adjacent ones in having 

 all the larger forest areas of the upland oak type beginning 

 with some 60 acres of fairly good timber just north of the 

 road bisecting Section 26 and lying on both sides of 

 Tomahawk Creek. Black oak is the most abundant, trees 

 of bur oak, white oak and shagbark hickory mingling with 

 it. South of the road the stand becomes in many places 

 more open with smaller trees; few exceeding 10 inches in 

 diameter. This forest continues into Sections 34 and 35, 

 there covering 200 acres with pastured oak forest. 



Earl Township (Map III). 



This is a prairie area intersected by Big Indian Creek, 

 which has developed a shallow stream valley, the gentle 

 slopes of which show the characteristic upland timber soil 

 (No. 1134 of the Soil Report). South of the village of 

 Earlville a flood plain varying from 50 to 200 yards in 

 width has been developed, composed of mixed loam (No. 

 1454) which was originally as completely forested as the 



