113 



III. Little Wabash basin*, White county. Based on 3.03 acres 



Wh. B. Sw. BI. Hick- Sassa- H. lo- Bl, 



Species oak oak gum gum ory Elm fras cust Ash Wal. Total 



No. of trees per acre 



D. B. H. 6" and up 15.5 4.3 10.2 3.3 11.2 3.G 1.3 .3 2.3 1.0 53.0 



B. F. yield per acre. .15503 2529 5643 188 2334 100 230 493 63 27083 



Max. D. B. H.. inches 40 36 34 16 32 15 14 22 22 17 



Max. height, ft 130 120 125 70 120 90 80 125 110 70 



IV. Kasliaskia bottoms, Randolph county. Based on 1 acre 



H.ack- 

 Species , Wh. oak Pin oak Hickory berry Ash Elm Total 



No. of trees per acre D. B. 



H. 6" and up 3 14 10 2 5 11 45 



B. F. yield per acre 423 96.S0 3880 10 545 1736 16274 



Max. D. B. H., inches 22 39 25 9 20 32 147 



Max. height, ft 90 105 100 40 90 80 505 



V. Upland, McDonough county. Based on 4 acres 



Wh. Bl. Hick- BI. Wal- Bass- 



Species oak oak ory Cherry Elm nut wood Total 



No. of trees per acre D. B. 



H. 6" and up 26.25 12.5 8.75 1 5.75 2 .75 57 



B. F. yield per acre 3977 947 271 59 346 110 50 5760 



Max. D. B. H., inches 30 22 17 15 18 16 IS 



Max. height, ft 80 80 70 60 70 60 70 



For a thousand tree-generations these forests held the land. The 

 Mound-builders followed the dim trails and vanished. The later Indians 

 altered them less than the beetles. In the hundred years that the French 

 held the settlements the forests were as when the Mound-builders found 

 them. Then entered the white settler, and in one tree-generation the 

 forest areas were reduced from 15,588,90.5 acres to 2,863,764 acres of 

 woodland, or but 18 per cent of the former area, largely cut over. Of 

 the stands of virgin forest there survives a mere remnant. 



The pioneers coming from the east and from Kentucky, where the 

 very habits of living were moulded by association with the forest, knew 

 the value of the woodland. Experience had taught them that the finest 

 hardwoods grew on the most fertile soils and led them to think that areas 

 naturally devoid of trees were barrens. So coming upon the great ex- 

 pan.se of Illinois prairie they sought out the forested bottoms for home 

 sites. Even had the pioneer appreciated the superior agricultural value 

 of the prairies he could not have settled there at that time. He had not 

 yet emerged from the period of incessant frontier warfare and the forests 

 often concealed his home. Nor was he familiar with the walled-in well, 



• For figures on individual trees of original forest see "Additional Notes on the 

 Native Trees of the Ix)wer Wabash Valley", Robert RIdgway. (Proc. U. S. Nafl 

 Mus., Vol. 17. 1894. pp. 409-421.) 



