2g4 CALCAREOUS MANURES— APPENDIX. 



tion. Trees, if planted in these prairies, would doubtless grow. In the 

 islands, preserved by accidental causes, the progress of the fire can be traced; 

 the first burning would only scorch the outer bark of the tree ; this would 

 render it more susceptible to the next, and the third would completely kill. 

 I have seen in places, at present completely prairie, pieces of burnt trees, 

 proving that the prairie had been caused by fire. The grass is usually very 

 luxuriant, which is not the case in the plains of the Missouri. There may 

 doubtless be spots where the proportion of salts, or other bodies, may be 

 such, as to favor the growth of grass only. 



" Such woods as remain are fine, but the quantity of adjoining prairie is 

 usually too great. There are large tracts, however, admirably suited for 

 settlements : a thousand acres or more of wood land, surrounded by as 

 much of prairie. It is generally well watered with fine streams, and also 

 interspersed with lakes. There is an extensive strip of land along this side 

 of the Missouri, of nearly thirty miles in width, and about one hundred 

 and fifty in length, altogether woods, and of excellent soil. An old gentle- 

 man, who has seen Kentucky a wilderness, informed me that the appear- 

 ance of this tract is similar, with the exception of its not being covered with 

 cane, and a forest so dark and heavy. The "Forks of the Missouri" 

 (such is the name given to the northern angle formed by the two great 

 rivers) daily increases in reputation, and is settling faster than any part of 

 the territory. 



" The Missouri bottoms, alternately appearing on one side or other of 

 the river, we have already seen, are very fine for three hundred miles up, 

 generally covered with heavy timber ; the greatest part of which is cotton 

 wood of enormous size. The bottoms are usually about two miles in 

 width, and entirely free from inundation. The bottoms of the Mississippi 

 are equally extensive and rich, but not so well wooded. They are in fact 

 a continued succession of the most beautiful prairies or meadows. The 

 tract called Les Mamelles, from the circumstance of several mounds, 

 bearing the appearance of art, projecting from the bluff some distance into 

 the plain, may be worth describing as a specimen. It is about three miles 

 from St. Charles ; I visited it last summer. To those who have never seen 

 any of these prairies, it is very difficult to convey any just idea of them. 

 Perhaps the comparison to the smooth green sea is the best. Ascending 

 the mounds, I was elevated about one hundred feet above the plain ; I had a 

 view of an immense plain below, and a distant prospect of hills. Every 

 sense was delighted, and every faculty awakened. After gazing for an 

 hour, I still continued to experience an unsatiated delight, in contemplating 

 the rich and magnificent scene. To the right, the Missouri is concealed by 

 a wood of no great width, extending to the Mississippi, the distance of ten 

 miles. Before me, I could mark the course of the latter river, its banks 

 without even a fringe of wood ; on the other side, the hills of the Illinois, 

 faced until limestone, in bold masses of various hues, and the summits 

 crowned with trees; pursuing these hills to the north, we see, at the distance 

 of twenty miles, where the Illinois separates them, in his course to the Mis- 

 sissippi. To the left, we behold the ocean of prairie, with islets at intervals. 

 The whole extent perfectly level, covered with long waving grass, and at 

 every moment changing color, from the shadows cast by the passing clouds. 

 In some places there stands a solitary tree of cotton wood or walnut, of 

 enormous size, but from the distance diminished to a shrub. A hundred 

 thousand acres of the finest land are under the eye at once, and yet, on all 

 this space, there is but one little cultivated spot to be seen." — pp. 204,206. 



" Nothing else was visible — not a deer, not a tree— all was prairie 



.^a wide unbroken sea of green — where hollow succeeded hollow, and the 



