THE AUDUBON BULLETIN 



xke Morton Arboretum 



In recent years the movement to conserve the wooded lands 

 of the country from destruction, has resulted in many public 

 and private efforts which are noteworthy in their success in 

 preventing the further denuding of timbered lands. The finest 

 example of public conservation is that of the forest preserves 

 of Cook county. Already more than twenty thousand acres of 

 magnificent woodland have been taken over and are being ad- 

 ministered for the people of the county. Along the north shore 

 of Lake Michigan are many fine tracts belonging to private 

 estates, which are not free to the public. These timbered areas 

 vary greatly both in their topography and the character of the 

 tree growth, owing to varied natural causes. 



In nearly all 

 prairie regions the 

 best forested areas 

 are found border- 

 ing streams or con- 

 tiguous to bodies 

 of water. There 

 are, however other 

 natural causes 

 which may from 

 their effect on the 

 soil conditions, re- 

 sult in great tim- 

 ber tracts away 

 from waterways. 

 The former glacial 



Photo by Orpheus M. Schantz cmnpliQ wlrnVh hud 



APPROACH TO THE ARBORETUM epOCUS WniCH Hcttl 



so much effect on the shaping of land contours in Illinois, had a 

 tremendous influence in furnishing suitable soil for forest growth. 

 North and west of Chicago the results of glacial action are 

 clearly evident to the geologist, who will tell you that the es- 

 kers, kames and moraines with their varied gravel formations 

 have made possible some of the finest forests in Cook, Dupage, 

 Kane and Will counties. When, therefore, the gravelly glacial 

 soils are watered by streams, even though small, conditions are 

 ideal for the growth of luxuriant forests. 



In the valley of the east branch of the Little Dupage river, 

 in Dupage county, between the villages of Lisle on the Burling- 

 ton -Ry. and Glen Ellyn on the Northwestern Ry., the above 

 described .combination of glacial; drift and stream has made a 

 location ideal for the carrying out of a plan for an Arboretum 

 on so larg^ a scale that it will be, when completed, the greatest 

 botanical garden in America. Joy Morton has set aside 400 

 acres of the finest land on his estate for this purpose, which occu- 

 pies the center and both slopes of the Little Dupage valley, 



