J. D. Dana on the Origin of Prairies. 297 
* _-verse, in parallelism with the variations in moisture. In the 
. . United States forests originally prevailed with almost unbroken 
continuity over the parts. which receive the greatest amount of 
ain with the least amount of evaporation, and prairies or semi- 
deserts where the amount is small. Over the eastern portion of 
the continent, from the Gulf states to Labrador, including the 
most of New England and New York, the Atlantic states, and 
o 
all of Tennessee and Kentucky, the annual fall of rain is 40 to 45 
oO 
Vge as ? 
tay Ps 
7 pe? x 
natural prairies have some kind of relation to dryness of climate, 
and that moisture has as much to do with the prevalence of 
forests, fe 
‘Taces and on over the high hills. The writer was through the 
Valley the past summer, and observed forest patches on the 
lower flats (or, where the forests are gone, the old stumps,) at 
several places between Utica and Herkimer, over the Her 
flats. between Herkimer and Little Falls, between Little Falls 
; sville. These forest 
More draining than tbe value of the land seemed to warrant. — . 
_ West of Utica, near Oriskany, there are large bogs 1 eae 
So wet the year around that they are hardly penetrable : es: 
