488 SOILS. 



NATURAL VEGETATION THE BASIS OF AGRICULTURAL LAND 

 VALUES IN THE UNITED STATES. 1 



In countries long settled, as in Europe, where the nature of 

 the original forest is unknown or a matter of tradition only, 

 the adaptations of the several kinds of land to culture plants 

 and forest trees has been gradually ascertained by cultural ex- 

 perience, and their designations, values and uses determined 

 accordingly. In the United States, the character of the origi- 

 nal forest growth is mostly in evidence, or is definitely known 

 by tradition, even in the older states. West of the Alleghenies, 

 there is as yet little difficulty in this regard, partly because 

 even where the original forest growth has disappeared its 

 character remains on record, the assessed land values being 

 very commonly based upon the tree growth of the wild land. 

 In the Southern States especially, the classification of uplands 

 into "pine lands " and " oak lands " is universal, and is associ- 

 ated with certain limits of valuation, both by assessors and 

 purchasers. Within each of these two classes, however, there 

 are well-defined gradations of cultural value according to the 

 kind { species') c. g., of pine or oak that occupies the ground, 

 either alone, or in intermixture with other trees whose pres- 

 ence or absence is considered significant. In the case of 

 'bottoms" <>r alluvial lands, corresponding distinctions and 

 classifications obtain; we hear of hickory, beech, gum, and 

 cherry bottom-, hackberry hammocks, etc. each name being 

 associated with certain cultural values or peculiarities of soil, 

 well umler-tood by the farming population. 



INVESTIGATION OF CAUSES GOVERNING THE I USTRIBUTION OF 



NATIVE VEGETATION. 



It seems singular that such well and widely understood 

 designations and important distinctions should not long ago 

 have been made the subject of careful investigation and pre- 

 cise definition b\ agricultural investigators. For apart from 

 their practical importance as guides to the purchaser of land, 

 or settler, this correlation of land-values and natural vegetation 

 is of the utmost interest in offering an opportunity for re- 

 searches on the factors which determine the choice of these 

 several trees and the corresponding shrubby and herbaceous 

 1 See above, pp. 313 to 315, chapter 18. 



