CHKISTIAN COUNTY. 157 



On the North Fork of the Sangamon there are occasional. drift bluffs 

 thirty to fifty feet high, capped with a heavy growth of white oak, hut 

 the white oak lauds do not often extend more than a quarter of a mile 

 from the river, giving place to a more undulating surface, with a growth 

 of elm, hickory, oak, sassafras, cherry, hazel, etc. 



This county consists mostly of prairie, the timbered laud being cou- 

 fined to a narrow belt along the streams. On the South Fork of the 

 Sangamon the timber belt is generally about three miles wide, and along 

 the other streams from one to two miles. The prairies are generally 

 fiat, with a luxuriant growth of resin-weed, two species, viz : Silphium 

 laciniatum and 8.*terebiritMnaceum, golden rod, solidago, several species, 

 IAatris or blazing star, two species, and the beautiful and delicately 

 colored Physostegia Virginiana and Gsrardia tenuifolia. Occasionally, 

 on the basin-like depressions or flat marshy spots on the prairies, I 

 found Iris versicolor and Vernonia fasciculata. 



There is not much difference in the quality of the prairie soil, it being 

 all a rich black loam of from one to two and a half feet in depth, and 

 in the northern part of the county slightly sandy. The soil along the 

 edge of the prairie near Taylorville is quite saudy ; eastwardly for six 

 miles there are occasional spots of poor sandy soil, with postoak and black 

 jack, but this often gives place to better laud, with white oak, black oak 

 hazel and sassafras, or cherry, laurel oak, hazel, pin oak, hickory, plum 

 and crab apple. Along Locust Fork its whole length, and on South 

 Fork above the mouth of Locust Fork, both on the bottoms and hill 

 sides the soil is deep and rich, with principally a growth of Ameiican 

 elm and cornus. On Bear creek the soil and growth is similar. On and 

 near Musquito creek the soil is rich and black, with a growth of elm, 

 linden, coffee tree, cherry, red oak, hickory, red bud, spice bush, hack- 

 berry, black walnut, honey locust, ash, mulberry, etc. West of Mus- 

 quito creek, on the slopes leading to the North Fork, the timbered land 

 is quite sandy and the growth variable ; on some soil black oak pre- 

 dominates; where there is much clay mingled with sand there is a growth 

 of red elm, sassafras, etc., when there is still more clay, laurel oak, 

 American elm, white oak, black hickory, shell bark hickory, red bud, 

 black oak and sassafras. 



On the south side of South Fork, below the mouth of Bear creek, the 

 prairie land often approaches the stream, and the adjoining woodland 

 growth reaching to the river bank consists of laurel oak, elm, hickory, 

 linden and sassafras. 



North of the South Fork there are white oak hills occasionally spread- 

 ing out into flats. 



^ote. — *The S. terelinthinaceum abounds on the rich prairies of Illinois, whereas in Missouri I have 

 only found it on thepost oak and black-jack barrens in the southern portions of the State. 



