42 Part I. Chapter ı. 
must be mentioned now which is destined to play an important part in ad- 
vancing our knowledge of the physiography of the northeastern United States. 
Reference is made to The Physical Geography of New York State by RALPH 
S. TARR published in 1902 in 397 pages and many illustrations. For the 
northern Appalachians and the region of the Great Lakes and glacier covered 
districts of North America this book is indispensible. Finally FENNEMAN’s 
Lakes of Northeastern Wisconsin published by the Wisconsin Geological and 
Natural History Survey throws important light on the lake district of Central 
North America. 
As geologic reference texts the phytogeographer should consult two: 
books. Manual of Geology Treating of the Principles of the Science with 
special Reference to American Geological History by JAMES D. DAnA (fourth 
edition 1895) and Text-Book of Geology by SIR ARCHIBALD GEIKIE (1893), 
These books do not exhaust the list of important works on American geology, 
which comprise bulletins, monographs and books of special import, such as 
WRIGHT’s Ice Age in North America 1891. Nearly all of the eastern and 
southern United States have supported at one time or another an agricultural 
survey in which the general character of the soil has been recognized and 
described. This information is scattered through a great number of reports 
on agriculture and geology, many of them dating in the early part of the 
nineteenth century. Maps have been published also, representing the general 
distribution of soil types, but as the results lack cohesion and definite plan, 
they are not tangible. — The United States Department of Agriculture to 
meet the demand for a more accurate soil survey inaugurated the Division of 
Soils connected with which there is a laboratory of soil physics and a labora- 
tory of soil chemistry for considering and investigating the many problems: 
which press for a solution. Parties in the field supply the data with which 
maps are plotted. So far as possible, the topographic sheets of the United 
States Geological Survey are used as base maps for soil work. — The results 
of the laboratory and field work have appeared in a series of twentytwo bul- 
letins 1895— 1903 which give important material that can be utilized by the 
botanist. The maps are published in conjunction with the reports on the field 
operations of the Division of Soils. Reports beginning with that for 1899 have 
been printed, one volume of text and one of maps and plates. These are 
indispensable to the plant geographer and plant ecologist as well as vegetable 
physiologists. In addition to these useful reports and bulletins should be 
mentioned a paper in the Yearbook of the United States Department of 1895 
on the origin, value and reclamation of alkali lands. HıLGarn’s book on Soils 
1906 with important chapters on soils and native vegetation supplements the 
earlier reports of HILGARD and LOUGHRIDGE on the soils of the cotton region. 
The Vegetation of the Bay of Fundy Diked Marshes by W.F. GANONG appeared 
in the Botanical Gazette for 1903. The British Association committee report 
upon the depth of permanently frozen soil in the Arctic region has a direct 
bearing upon the flora of the northern tundras. 
