570 MINNESOTA BOTANICAL STUDIES. 



As a result of the reconnoissance 325 species of flowering 

 plants are reported below, 73 of which are monocotyledons and 



252 dicotyledons. 



Concerning the explorations made by Professor C. A. Ballard 

 he wrote as follows under date of September i, 1900 : 



The object of the present work was to examine certain portions of 

 the Red River valley to determine (i) whether the soil of the sections 

 under examination contained saline or alkaline ingredients in sufficient 

 quantities to produce a distinctively characteristic vegetation, and (2) 

 to note the extent of territory affected by such conditions. 



I found it very difficult to obtain definite information as to the most 

 pronounced alkaline regions of the valley, so that the territory covered 

 is a part only of the sections under discussion. 



I examined first, the vegetation, littoral and aquatic, of Mineral, 

 Alkali and Horse Shoe lakes. These lakes are situated south and 

 east of Fergus Falls, Otter Tail Co., and are more or less strongly 

 alkaline. Of the three examined Mineral lake alone has a vegetation 

 differing from that of the surrounding country. I have collected in 

 this lake Ruppia occidental, in former years although unable 

 find it at this time. It is without doubt growing in the lake. Around 

 the margin of the lake three or four chenopods grow luxuriantly, 

 next spent about two weeks in the northern part of the valley collect- 

 ing in the vicinity of the following towns : St. Vincent, Humboldt, 

 Northcote, Hallock and Kennedy in Kittson Co., and Warren i 



Marshall Co. 



The monotonous dead level of the prairie is broken occasionally by 

 small streams each with its fringe of trees. The surface wells of 

 region visited are alkaline, some of them decidedly so. This shows I 

 entire soil to be alkaline to a certain extent. These wells are from 15 

 to 25 feet deep. Many deep wells have been sunk throughou 

 valley, those in Kittson Co. generally yielding a strong brine ( 

 if more than 70 feet deep. I visited one such flowing well at . 

 boldt, the waters of which had killed all the vegetation for rods a 

 the path of the flow. These conditions are so recent however that no 

 marked halophytic vegetation has developed. Near a similar well al 

 Northcote I found Salicornia growing abundantly within narrow h 



Besides these localities of artificial conditions there is an occasi. 

 salt spring in the valley, notably one on "Two Rivers" some 

 west of Hallock. I was unable to reach this spring, 

 depressions in the surface of the prairie also often show slight i 

 tions of an alkaline salt. 



At Hallock I had the good fortune to examine the herbarium of 

 G. A. Gunnarson, the Auditor of Kittson Co. This herbarium o: 

 to 300 plants represents the collections of several years in the imme- 



