602 FORESr RESOURCES OF INDIANA. 



and sycamore. In adflitiou to those most useful for lumber, there are large hickories, 

 elm, hackberry, Ha.ssat'ras, persimmon, aud occasionally buclieye trees. — {Third and 

 Fourth Reports, 1871-72, p. 141.) 



Posey County : 



This county averages from 350 to 450 feet above tide. It is undulating, except ou 

 the Wabash bottoms, and some smaller river-bottoms. The soil of these is a sandy 

 loam, but on the uplands more clayey, with marl in places, of the Quaternary age. 

 Prevailing timber, tnlip, beech, sugar-tree [maple], hickory, white and black oak, 

 black and white walnut, elm, &c. In several cases, a second growth when allowed 

 to come up, has consisted almost exclusively of black-jack oak. In ano'her case 

 it was nearly all tulip-tree. Within the last fifty years the springs have very much 

 dried up, aud the sui face- water runs off much more rapidly, so that we suffer from 

 drought in various ways more than formerly. The wind, too, has a greater sweep, 

 and hurricanes have been more frequent, with consequent injuiy to grain as well 

 as to the timber yet left. The rise in the rivers is also much more rapid than 

 formerly. Few experiments iu forest planting have been tried. Some farmers 

 have carefully culled their rail-timber and fire-wood where the trees were thickest, 

 and have thus made a forty-acre lot serve a good sized farm. Thomas Say, the natu- 

 ralist, who accompanied Major Long in his expedition to theRocky Mountains, brought 

 home and planted the Kcelruteria (one of the Sapindacecz of botanists), which has 

 since been extensively cultivated as a shade- tree with great success. Osage hedges 

 are quite abundant through the county, and are found to be a great protection 

 agaiust the wind, as well for orchards as for fields. Some timber in this county has 

 been destroyed by hurricanes, and a considerable amount of our hickory we find injured 

 by the borer. — (Prof. Richard Owen, New Harmony, Ind.) 



Ripley County had originally a very heavy growth of timber. In sections of the 

 northern part the growth is almost exclusively white oak; in other Sections exclu- 

 sively larch, while iu other localities the two are combined and interspers-ed with other 

 varieties. The forests ou the " Hats " are remarkable for the abundance and size of 

 the trees, and the occasional thick undergrowth woven together with grape-vines, 

 which add much to the density of the woods. The cutting of white oak for staves has 

 deprived these forests of their best timber, yet some groves of wood which have been 

 preserved bear testimony to large and abundant growth of the primitive forests. The 

 timber on the rolling land and along the streams is poplar, black and white walnut, 

 white oak, black oak, water-oak, gum, hackberry, ash, water-maple, elm, sycamore, tfcc. 

 * * * There are at present twenty saw-milla iu the couuty. The approximate 

 amount of lumber cut the past year is 2,000,000 feet. It was estimated that 5,000,000 

 were cut in 1873. — {Seventh Report Geological Survey, 1875, p. 201.) 



Scott County : 



In former days this county was heavily timbered, and various sections afforded all 

 the varieties of merchantable lumber. The principal use made of timber at this time 

 is to cut it up into cooper-stock. Quite a number of mills are engaged in cutting 

 staves for "tight-work" — coal-oil barrels and pork-bari-els, and for "slack-work" — 

 cement and flour barrels. One mill id mentioned as cutting 700,000 slack-barrel 

 staves, using sugar-maple, beech, oaks, &c. Another cuts 500,000 white-oak staves for 

 oil and pork barrels, and pays $18 per M for sound staves. Another cuts 700,000 to 

 800,000 staves, and makes 40,000 to 50,000 barrels.— (-S'ixf/i Report, 1874, p. 132.) 



Vanderburgh County: 



The forests of this county » * * afford one of the great sources of income. Orna- 

 mental woods, as walnut, oak, maple, beech, ash, ».V:c., are common, aud several of the 

 most i»rosperous manufacturing establismeuts are engaged iu converting this home- 

 material into useful and ornamental purposes. Other kinds of timber are used for 

 building purposes, the manufacture of wagons, carriages, plyws, implements, and ma- 

 chines. The sales, direct and indirect, credited to the forests, amount annuaUv to over 

 $4,000,000.— {Seventh Report, 1875, p. 295.) 



Vermillion County : ^ 



At the first settlement of the country the bottoms were heavily timbered, but a 

 large part of the terrace was so-called prairie, being eutirt-ly clear of trees. It is 

 probable, however, that this was the result of ancient clearing by the Aztecs or Mound 

 Builders, whose mounds are quite numerous iu this region, aud that during the period 

 when the Indians occupied the country, their annual fires prevented the growing up 

 of the clearings. * * * The slopes of these blufl's are generally too steep for conve- 

 nient caltivati'm, and are, through nearly their whole extent, still heavily covered 

 with timber, principally consisting of oaks, hickories, and walnuts, though beech be- 

 gins to take a proujinent place as we approach the southmni end of the county. In many 

 of the ravines, and along the foot of bluffs, there are large groves of sugar-maple, from 

 which considerable quantities of sugar aud molasses are annually drawn. Near the 



