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 (1) 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 occ¢édentalis, in former years although unable to 
find it at thistime. It is without doubt growing in the lake. Around 
the margin of the lake three or four chenopods grow luxuriantly. I 
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 in 
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 the 
region visited are alkaline, some of them decidedly so. This shows the 
entire soil to be alkaline to a certain extent. These wells are from 15 
to25 feet deep. Many deep wells have been sunk throughout the 
valley, those in Kittson Co. generally yielding a strong brine (NaCl) 
if more than 7o feet deep. I visited one such flowing well at Hum- 
boldt, the waters of which had killed all the vegetation for rods along 
the path of the flow. These conditions are so recent however that no 
marked halophytic vegetation has developed. Near a similar well at 
Northcote I found Salécornéa growing abundantly within narrow limits. 
Besides these localities of artificial conditions there is an occasional 
salt spring in the valley, notably one on * Two Rivers” some miles 
west of Hallock. I was unable to reach this spring. The numerous 
depressions in the surface of the prairie also often show slight incrusta- 
tions of an alkaline salt. 
At Hallock I had the good fortune to examine the herbarium of Mr. 
G. A. Gunnarson, the Auditor of Kittson Co. This herbarium of 200 
to 300 plants represents the collections of several years in the imme- 
