Prairies of Ohio. 235 
the wild growth. ‘The enclosures, likewise, arrest the fires, alluded 
to in the beginning of this paper, and thus prevent the annual de- 
struction of shrubs, and the small sprouts of arborous plants. When 
these fires are prevented from sweeping over the surface of wet prai- 
ries, for several years, they are soon covered by a dense growth of 
alder, which eventually gives place to the vegetables named in the 
former paragraph. 'This change, however, does not take place, until 
the soil has changed its character, by the introduction of sand and 
gravel from the surrounding elevations. This is effected rapidly 
after the hills and table lands are cultivated; for when the soil is 
broken, it is easily driven downwards by rains and running streams. 
‘Thus the immense natural meadow ; the residence of the beaver, 
the otter, and the water-rat; the place of grass and flowers, is re- 
duced, by natural causes, to a dense forest, furnishing timber, and 
other materials in agriculture, and the arts. ‘The basin of the lake, 
over which the Indian paddled his bark canoe, is filled, and its place 
known no more, except to the philosopher, who can read in the 
rocks, the pebbles, the sand, and the trees, the records of the past. 
The watery sheet has given place to farms and villages, and the 
sound of the hammer, the axe, and the bell, is heard in the valley 
which once echoed with the shouts of the aboriginal, blended with 
the wild notes of the water-fowl. 
The streams which pass through these prairies, though often large, 
flow with but little current, in a very serpentine direction, through 
a dark alluvial soil which contains but few pebbles, and no large 
bowlders. In many instances, a large vegetable growth, similar to 
that found in the neighboring ponds, arises from the bottom of the 
stream. ‘Their shores are more elevated than the surfaces of the 
adjacent marshes, or prairies, and hence they are thickly covered by 
trees of a superior growth. The stately white elms, so abundant 
along their immediate borders, contribute much to the formation of 
a. beautiful landscape. Their trunks seem to be placed at regular 
distances from each other, while their long branches meet and coa- 
lesce so completely, that they form a most extensive natural arbor. 
Early in the spring, multitudes of squirrels resort to them, from the 
neighboring hills, in order to feast on the expanding buds. Before 
the country was thickly settled, and the beauties of nature defaced 
by the hand of art, herds of deer might often be seen feeding on 
the undergrowth of these bottoms. At this period but few logs 
