FLOWERING PLANTS AND FERNS OF INDIANA. 573 



stroyed because of ignorance of the special uses to which special species 

 may be put. It was, of course, necessary to reduce the original timber 

 lands in order to gain agricultural areas. But the demand for crop 

 areas being satisfied, the remaining timber lands should be so treated 

 as to secure their constant reproduction and betterment. 



Orginally, seven-eighths of the 21,637,760 acres, comprising the 

 area of the State, was covered with a dense growth of timber. Many 

 of the most valuable hardwood forms reached their maximum develop- 

 ment, both as regards size and number, within the bounds of the State. 

 Xo later than 1880 Indiana was sixth in rank among lumber produc- 

 ing States. It is doubtful if there now exists in the State over 2,000,- 

 000 acres of timber and from this area much of the most valuable has 

 been removed, so that what remains can but little more than remind 

 us of the wealth of the past. Most of our timber areas are second 

 growth, containing only occasional forms representing the original for- 

 ests. Very few ''virgin forest" areas are now to be found in the State, 

 most of them being confined to the hill regions of the southern coun- 

 ties, where transportation difficulties have led to their remaining un- 

 touched "until the present. 



FORMS HAVING AN ECONOMIC VALUE. 



Of the one hundred and thirteen species of trees found within the 

 bounds of the State, seventy-five are of use in manufactures and hence 

 have a market value. Of this latter number, forty-eight are of such 

 general use as to be classed as of the first rank. Over two-thirds of 

 the species of this group of high-grade timber are found throughout 

 the entire State in considerable numbers, if we except the limited areas 

 known as "barrens" and "'prairies." Among these are the various 

 forms of oaks, hickories, walnuts, ashes, maples, the tulip poplar and 

 the bald cypress, although the last named, being confined to the 

 swamp regions of the southwestern counties, is of much less general 

 distribution than the others. In some cases the real value of the form 

 is not fully appreciated as in the case of the lins and buckeyes, both 

 of which are usually considered of but little value, unless it be for fuel. 

 The lin, however, has a high value because of its use in the manufac- 

 ture of woodenware and other products not requiring great strength, 

 while the wood of the buckeye is used almost exclusively in the manu- 

 facture of artificial limbs, for which, indeed, it is preferred to any 

 other wood. The black locust and the honey or sweet locust are also 

 forms which locally have not been assigned their true value. In both 

 forms the wood is very heavy, dense and hard, and has few superiors 



