1922] SMITH, BOTANY IN SOUTHWESTERN WISCONSIN 127 



route 65, which was also in the process of construction with no de- 

 tours. We arrived at Bloomington, a thriving town without a rail- 

 road, for dinner. From there on 65 proved to be a fine road clear into 

 Platteville. When we arrived at Lancaster, the county seat of Grant 

 county, we stopped to admire the court house with its statues at every 

 corner. One of them was the statue of Nelson Dewey, the first gov- 

 ernor of Wisconsin Territory in 1836. Forty minutes out of Lancaster 

 brought us to Platteville, the old mining town. Inquiry developed that 

 our host was to be Mrs. Alfred Kaunip, of 512 Mineral Street, who 

 kept students of the Normal and Mining schools during the winter, 

 and we had the best accommodations we encountered on the trip. 

 Every meal was a delight, although they were hard pressed to gather 

 enough sweet corn on the cob to feed the visitors. 



The roads around Platteville were line and we covered a good deal 

 of Grant county with its interesting flora. Grant county will probably 

 be found to have the greatest number of species of any county in Wis- 

 consin. Yet, it is one of the oldest settled parts of the state. The 

 lead and zinc mines thereabout attracted the early settlers. It is a very 

 large county and with quite a varied topography. Perhaps the fact 

 that it is in the driftless area, has given it such a wide range of species. 

 The western border of the country is the Mississippi river, and many 

 adventive plants have been introduced by its spring floods. River 

 traffic in former days doubtless established the introduction of many 

 southern species. The northern boundary of the county is formed by 

 the banks of the Wisconsin river, where there are extensive sandy flats, 

 with their peculiar flora. It was nothing for us to be in Potosi about 

 twenty miles away from Platteville on the Mississippi river in the 

 morning, come back in half an hour, then spend the afternoon at Stit- 

 zer, twenty-five miles in the opposite direction from Platteville. We 

 started our collecting right in Platteville, widening our zones till we 

 had everything within a mile of town. Then we struck out to the river 

 bottoms of the Platte river. Here the vegetation was twelve feet high 

 and very much ranker than we had encountered hitherto. It was 

 curious to see wild mint (Mentha arvensis canadensis) that usually 

 grows knee high, growing higher than our heads. 



Potosi was a very interesting place for collecting. It was a very 

 old town and the houses looked the part. British Hollow and Dutch 

 Hollow, little towns we passed through, looked like a foreign country. 

 About two miles down, we ran out on the flats where the Grant river 

 empties into the Mississippi, and collected in the river bottoms, where 



