somewhat narrow. Some of tliem arc beautiful as seeu from a 

 hill-top, and some of the l>esi arc occupied by ranches. Between 

 the vfilleys in the passes are often a large number of small ponds. 

 It is commonly said by stockmen and others interested in the 

 region that the sand hills were entirely bare of vegetation at a 

 comparatively recent date and have only commenced to be grassed 

 over since the days of the Indian and the buffalo. This is doubt- 

 f nl. We have accounts of the sand hills written in the early part 

 of this century which give the salient features of the landscape 

 about as they appear to-day. Furthermore we have access to col- 

 lections of plants gathered in the sand hills from 1839 to 1858, 

 and these collections agree in species and type with those collected 

 in more recent years. There seems to be neither increase nor 

 diminution in the number of species. The region is one where 

 physical conditions may vary greatly in a term of years. We were 

 told by stockmen who had been in the hills a long time that the 

 lakes sometimes disappear during periods of drouth, and that one 

 year a crop of hay may be cut where, the year before, there was a 

 fine body of water. We saw one case in point. In one valley the 

 bottom for a long distance was white with the dried remains of a 

 species of Chard But two or three insignificant ponds remained, 

 and they were full of the living plant. If one sees the sand hill 

 region for the first time when bare of vegetation in winter or early 

 spring or after the drying out of July and August, he may easily 

 get the idea that they have never been grassed over. When the 

 freshening up comes after the rains, he may conclude that they 

 are becoming turfed over for the first time. 



FLORA OF THE SAND HILL EEGION. 



There are, roughly speaking, three floras in the region. The 

 hills are sparsely covered with the typical sand hill species. The 

 dry valleys and the upper parts of the wet valleys [farthest from 

 the lake have a characteristic flora scarcely different from that of 

 the prairies of eastern Nebraska. It is evidently the prairie flora 

 of the surrounding regions mixed with a few individuals which 



