xii INTRODUCTION. 



CONCLUSIONS. 



Comparing this Flora with the Cayuga Flora, and enumerating the 

 species whose distribution terminates in each, we have tabulated the 

 following facts : 



These figures are of course not absolutely correct, and cannot be until 

 our Flora is more fully studied and distribution in general is more accu- 

 rately known, but they are relatively so. 



While the Cayuga is most closely related to the territory which in- 

 cludes the Ohio Valley and the southern shores of several of the Great 

 Lakes, it has a considerable affinity for the North and Northwest and 

 but little for the Coast. The Lackawanna and Wyoming Flora, includ- 

 ing the Pocono Plateau, shows a strong relationship with the North, 

 next with the South, and really a decided affinity (although not exhib- 

 ited by a large number of peculiar species) with the coast. Indeed, the 

 similarity in aspect between the vegetation of this region and that of the 

 Connecticut coast is striking. Excluding the Pocono, its relationship 

 is largely with the South, next with the Atlantic slope, while that with 

 the North is scarcely discoverable. 



The cause of the relation of the Pocono table -land flora with the 

 northern lies not so much in the height as in the breadth of the plateau, 

 and the density and coolness of the original forests clothing it. I have 

 perused a considerable number of journals of army officers, travelers, 

 naturalists and missionaries, who traversed the Pocono more than a cen- 

 tury ago, when it was threaded only by two slender trails traced by Ihe 

 children of the forest. It was then known as the ' 'Great Swamp." On 

 it were vast tracts of forest, tangled, wet, dark and gloomy. Col. Dear- 

 born, writing in 1779, says after passing the Pocono Knob he entered 

 what is called the Great Swamp, containing trees of pine, spruce, hem- 

 lock and maple of amazing size. This includes a dark, dismal portion, 

 between Locust Hill and the head of Laurel Run, known as the "Shades 

 of Death." Rev. Wm. Rogers refers also to the great height of the 

 pines (White Pine), ascending 150 feet before reaching limbs. The 

 abundance of the larger "Lawrel" is also commented on. There is 

 abundant testimony showing that this was a heavily forested tract orig- 

 inally. Now, great areas of barrens greet the eye, where alders, dwarf 



