14 



seminated, are in such situations as to make their origin 

 self-evident, while others are so distributed as to appear to 

 all intents and purposes as natives. Again, by the clear- 

 ing of the forests, the general cultivation and changes in 

 the condition of the soil, many native plants best able to 

 endure the changes, or those to which the changes have 

 proved beneficial, have been given positions of undue 

 prominence in the flora : while other species, which at the 

 time of the settlement of the country were much more 

 abundant, have now become less numerous, or have entirely 

 disappeared. It is a matter of considerable difliculty to 

 picture to ourselves the country as it appeared two hun- 

 dred and fifty years ago. It is probable that extensive 

 forests reached to the ocean shore and, excepting the river 

 marshes and clearings made by the fires of the aborigines, 

 occupied the whole territory. The Indians cultivated 

 corn, pumpkins, beans, tobacco and a few other plants. 

 It is possible that some species of foreign plants had been 

 introduced previous to the settlement by the whites 

 through trade or by adventures, but this is uncertain. 

 The study of the introduced plants is aided by the work 

 of Mr. John Josselyn (New England Rarities Discovered) , 

 a reprint of which, with valuable notes by Professor Ed- 

 ward Tuckerman, is now available. Josselyn visited 

 New England several times ; when on the longest sojourn, 

 1663-1671, he Landed at Boston and soon went to Black 

 Point, Scarborough, Maine, where most of his obser- 

 vations were made. Josselyn was an excellent observer 

 and although -his writings are filled with the usual strange 

 stories current in old works upon new and unexplored 

 countries, they contain the first accounts of an^' conse- 

 quence regarding the New England flora. This author did 

 not, perhaps, make many observations in Essex. County, 

 yet his work contains but few species that do not "row 



