CHAPTER VI. 



THE SEED PLANTS OF TORONTO 

 AND VICINITY. 



By 

 PRINCIPAL WILLIAM SCOTT. 



TORONTO has a great variety of soil and surface. 

 The soil varies from the purest of sand to the heaviest 

 of clay. The Island, which faces the city, is com- 

 posed of almost pure sand; the valleys of the Don 

 and the Humber are almost pure clay. In the imme- 

 diate vicinity of the city are to be found cold bogs 

 and swamps. 



The elevation of the land above the sea level varies 

 from 250 feet at the lake front to 577 feet at the : 

 Forest Hill station on the Belt Line railway, and 

 817 feet at Kichmond Hill. These conditions com- 

 bine to produce a great variety of flowering plants. 

 It is needless to say that man and the domestic 

 animals have destroyed many plants that at one time 

 were abundant here. Many rare and beautiful spe- 

 cies that formerly flourished on the Island are, if 

 not entirely extinct, rarely to be met with. " Ladic 

 tresses " could always be found in abundance. Tl 

 exact locality where they were so common is 

 several feet under the sand which was pumped ov6 

 the land to raise it. The only locality in whic 

 100 



