* Rocky Mountains. 339 



instead of being left to wither and decay upon the surface, 

 are necessarily consumed in the subsistence of man and 

 beast, in consequence of which, one of the most fruitful 

 causes of pestilential effluvia, viz. vegetable putrefaction is 

 in a very considerable degree, removed. 



The prevailing timber growth of the region, comprehend- 

 ing the two sections of country already described, is exhibit- 

 ed in the following list of trees, viz. cotton wood, willow, 

 sycamore, black walnut, pecan, coffee tree, sweet and sour or 

 black gum, red and water elm, hackberry, blue and white 

 ash, linden, yellow and white poplar, catalpa, black and honey 

 locust, buck eye, bur oak, white and black oak, mulberry, 

 box elder, v/hite dogwood, sugar tree, white maple, wild 

 cherry, red oak, hickory, iron wood and hop hornbeam. The 

 foregoing constitute the principal timber growth of the valley 

 country, and are to be met with more or less frequently 

 throughout the whole of it. Red beech is abundant in some 

 parts of the valley of the Ohio, and in those of many of its 

 tributaries. It abounds also in the northerly parts of the 

 states of Ohio and Indiana. Post oak, black-jack, and se- 

 veral other varieties of the oak, also, chesnut, white and 

 shell-bark hickory, persimmon, &c. are sometimes found in 

 the bottoms, but are more prevalent upon the hills and high 

 lands. Pitch pine abounds in many parts of Ohio and Indi- 

 ana, and generally in the neighbourhood of the Alleghany 

 mountains. White pine occasionally makes its appearance in 

 the northerly parts of Ohio. Red cedar is found in a great 

 variety of places throughout the country, but nowhere in 

 great abundance. 



The under- growth of the several tracts of country above 

 considered, includes a great variety of shrubs, vines, bram- 

 bles, grasses, and other herbage, to be enumerated in a Bo- 

 tanical catalogue daily expected from Dr. James. 



The most valuable timber trees are the white, post, and 

 bur oaks, the white and blue ash, the shell bark hickory, the 

 black walnut, the cherry, the locust, chesnut, poplar, mulber- 

 ry, birch, cotton wood and Imden. The two last mentioned 

 are seldom used when other kinds of timber are to be had. 

 The cotton wood is not only the most abundant timber 

 growth upon the bottoms, but is more widely diffused than 

 any other, and in many places, is the only variety of forest 

 trees that makes its appearance, which, however, is more 

 particularly the case westward of the Mississippi. 



