312 GEOLOGY OF ILLINOIS. 



laurel oak, red and white elm, blue and white ash, bitternut and scaly-bark 

 hickory, sugar and white maple, wild cherry, and red-bud, with occasionally 

 black walnut, butternut and American aspen. In the creek bottoms there are, 

 in addition to these, honey-locust, sycamore, cottonwood, ash-leaved maple or 

 box elder, buckeye, wild plum, thorn and crab apple. Grape vines and other 

 climbers are abundant. 



The bottom lands of the Mississippi are in part prairie, and in part covered 

 with a heavy growth of timber, consisting of sycamore, cottonwood, black wal- 

 nut, butternut, red and white elm, white and sugar maple, buckeye, coffee tree, 

 honey-locust, hackberry and the common varieties of oak, hickory and ash. 

 This land is very fertile, and produces large crops of hay, corn, etc. 



A large portion of townships 14 and 15, range 6, is comparatively low land, 

 and valuable principally for timber, grazing and meadow. Some parts of this 

 produce immense quantities of a coarse grass, which is much liked by cattle, 

 and hence stock growing is extensively carried on in some portions of the 

 county. 



Other portions of these bottom lands are very sandy and the soil poor, but 

 in wet seasons comparatively large crops may be raised here by proper cultiva- 

 tion and fertilizing. Irish and sweet potatoes do better here than on the 

 prairies. Some portions of this sandy land is covered with a scrubby growth 

 of timber, consisting of black-jack, black, white and red oak, and shell-bark, 

 and bitternut hickory. 



