HOFFMANN: FLORA OF BERKSHIRE COUNTY. 185 



of the County Mt. Everett, better known in the County as The Dome, 

 rises to an elevation of 2624 feet. In the northern end of the County, 

 lies the mass of which Mt. Greylock is the highest point. This peak 

 is 3505 feet above sea level, and is the highest mountain in the State. 



The eastern portion of the County is composed of a broad series of 

 ranges, which are a continuation of the Green Moimtain range of 

 Vermont. The highest peaks rise to an elevation of 2840 feet in 

 Florida and 2280 feet in Windsor, but there are no deep valleys sepa- 

 rating one range from another as in the Taconic range. For long 

 distances the upland rises steeply from the valleys of the Housatonic 

 and the Hoosac to a very uniform level, about 2000 feet in the north, 

 falling to 1500 feet in the south. The whole upland is so distinct in 

 its character from either the valleys above described or fron^ the well- 

 drained Taconics that for convenience it will be called, in the following 

 list, the Hoosac Plateau or the Plateau. 



There are nine or ten large lakes and a number of small ponds in the 

 County. Most of the lakes are remnants of glacial lakes formed in the 

 river valleys. The largest are Onota and Pontoosuc in Pittsfield, Lake 

 Mahkeenac (Stockbridge Bowl) in Stockbridge, Lakes Garfield (Brewer 

 Pond) and Buel in Monterey, and Cheshire Reservoir in Cheshire. 

 Several of these have comparatively soft bottoms and marshy places 

 along part of the shore-line. There are in the upland, particularly in 

 Becket and Otis, a number of small ponds with hard bottoms and 

 rocky shores. There are also small ponds both on the upland and in 

 the valleys in the center of "quaking" peat bogs. In Lenox and 

 Sheffield there are extensive swampy woods bordering the Housatonic 

 and its tributaries. 



The altitude of much of the Plateau and of many of the hills, not- 

 ably The Dome and the Greylock mass, is such that snow falls earlier 

 and lingers later there than in the valleys, and clouds and mist often 

 rest on the heights when the valley is clear. 



The distribution of plants depends so intimately on the character 

 of the soil and this in turn so much on past geological history that a 

 brief account of the main geological changes that have taken place in 

 the County is necessary. The upland designated above as the 

 Hoosac Plateau is composed for the most part of hard igneous or 

 metamorphic rocks dating from the Archaean and Cambrian periods. 

 The principal rocks are granitic gneiss, sericite schist, and quartzite. 

 The valleys of the Housatonic and Hoosac and their principal tribu- 



