128 BOTANY OF MICHIGAN 



Forests Known as Hardwoods 



These forests, composed about equally of beech, sugar maple, and 

 yellow birch, have many peculiarities of their own. Scattered among the 

 trees are here and there, basswood, American elm, hemlock, mountain 

 maple, mountain ash, and balsam. Underneath, the American yev, r is 

 very abundant, as also are Clintonia borealis and Lycopodium annotinum. 

 In spots Oxalis acetosella carpets the ground. 



Chippewa County as a Whole 



This county, starting on the south shore of Lake Superior at a point 

 a few miles west of Vermilion, extends in a southeasterly direction to 

 the east end of Drummond Island, a distance approximating 100 miles 

 on a straight line connecting these two extreme points. Its lake and 

 river frontage is over 150 miles. That portion of the count} 7 not already 

 mentioned, — the eastern, southern and southeastern parts — on the 

 whole differs very materially from the northwestern. There are many 

 sand ridges, numerous tamarack-black spruce swamps, 'white cedar 

 swamps, many bogs, small lakes and ponds. Large parts of the eastern 

 portion were covered formerly with hardwood forests, and some pine in 

 streaks mixed with hardwoods. But wasteful and destructive methods 

 of lumbering, and devastating fires have changed the face of the county. 

 The timber has been thus substantially removed. It is not, generally 

 speaking, a rocky country. In the eastern portion boulders occasionally 

 appear, and exposed rocks were noticed at Gatesville and from th3re to 

 Saint Marys River and Detour. These hardwood lands are being 

 cleared for agricultural purposes. From Brimley to Sault Ste. Marie 

 and from there south and east to Detour, about 65 miles, the road on 

 both sides is lined with good farms almost without exception, all ap- 

 pearances indicating good soil, and thrift in the wa}^ of buildings and 

 crops. Orchards were scarce, but a few heavily bearing apple trees were 

 noticed. Corn fields were few. Wheat, barley, oats, peas, potatoes, 

 timothy, and clover were the main crops. On September 10, 1914, much 

 of the wheat, oats, and barley was in shock, and many fields of grain yet 

 uncut. The change in appearance and apparent conditions from the 

 western and northwestern to the eastern and southeastern parts is very 

 great. This is over 300 miles direct north of the southern State boundary, 

 so that a list of the wild plants growing here compared with one in Hills- 

 dale County, directly south, would be interesting in the stud} r of plant 

 distribution. 



Acknowledgements 



The writer is much indebted to Mr. Kenneth K. Mackenzie of New 

 York City for an examination and determination of the sedges, and 



